Drinking at work events: what HR can change, without stigma

Most of the pressure to drink at work events comes from wanting to belong, so what helps is making not drinking unremarkable: good alcohol-free drinks offered first, some events built around something other than the bar, and nobody asked to explain their glass. Bans and special treatment for "non-drinkers" can single people out instead. For people who want to drink less, the best support is private and chosen, never monitored.

Why is there so much pressure to drink at work events?

Because drinking is done together, and groups like everyone doing the same thing. A listener's letter to No Stupid Questions put it plainly: "It seems the only time it is socially acceptable not to drink is if you are recovering from addiction to it." The psychologist Angela Duckworth, who co-hosts the show, answered that "the need to fit in, the need to belong, it's so profound", and offered a hypothesis: a group's instinct for everyone to do the same thing might explain why a non-drinker makes people uncomfortable (No Stupid Questions, 2023). Her co-host Mike Maughan, who doesn't drink, recalled someone at a dinner in his first job answering his "No thanks" with "Why? I don't get it. Jesus drank wine." The CEO's wife answered for him: "He also drank water. Leave him alone."

Keith Humphreys, a Stanford professor of psychiatry who studies addiction, has never heard anyone at a party ask "Why are you drinking?", "but I've certainly heard a million times, 'Why aren't you drinking?'" People reach for excuses, an exam or a cold, when "you shouldn't need an explanation." Recalling after-work drinking in Japan, he calls it "like a trust exercise": the one sober colleague can look like the person who'll repeat "I think I hate the boss" at work (Huberman Lab, 2026).

Part of the pull is chemical. In a 2012 lab experiment in Pittsburgh, 720 social drinkers aged 21 to 28 met two strangers each and drank for about half an hour. Groups given a moderate dose of alcohol smiled and talked more than groups given a soft drink or a drink they were told contained alcohol. Yet people who knowingly drank a soft drink rated how much they liked their group about the same as those who drank alcohol (Sayette et al., 2012). The ease is real, and people still connected without it.

Leaders set the tone too. Ruari Fairbairns, a former London oil broker who co-founded One Year No Beer (a paid alcohol-free challenge program that also sells to employers), says that when he told his boss he wanted a break from drinking, the answer was: "you're committing commercial suicide if you stop drinking" (Rich Roll Podcast, 2024).

Do long hours make people drink more?

A little, on average, and the link isn't proof of cause. A 2015 review in the BMJ pooled 20 prospective studies of 100,602 working adults in nine countries. People working 49 to 54 hours a week, or 55 or more, were slightly more likely than those working 35 to 40 hours to move into risky drinking over the following years (more than 14 drinks a week for women, 21 for men). Against a starting rate of 6.2%, the extra risk was 0.7 to 0.8 percentage points, which the authors call "relatively small" (Virtanen et al., 2015). They suggest work stress, depression and sleep problems as possible routes, and personality as a possible confounder: some people are drawn both to "work hard play hard" workplaces and to heavy drinking.

Should we ban alcohol at company events?

Usually not as a first step. No study here tested event bans, so this is judgment. The pressure people describe is about being questioned and set apart, and a ban keeps the drink at the center, only now as the company's rule instead of each person's choice. Many employees enjoy a drink with colleagues. Maughan's view is that "it's okay to show up as a non-drinker at a drinking party", as long as everyone is respectful (No Stupid Questions, 2023).

Some events are better without alcohol anyway, such as daytime sessions or anything involving driving. Otherwise, changing the format does more than a rule: Humphreys says professional women he knows would rather have "a Christmas lunch together at work instead of drinks afterwards", so they aren't around a drunk boss.

How can we make work events inclusive for people who don't drink?

Make not drinking ordinary, for everyone, without a label. Humphreys' test: if someone asks for sparkling water, give it and don't ask why. "It should just be a non-issue of, 'What do you want?'" (Huberman Lab, 2026). A "non-drinkers' table" or options labeled "for those in recovery" do the opposite, because they tell everyone why a person might be choosing them.

When the default is wrong, people hide: as a broker, Fairbairns once tipped a barman in advance to serve him alcohol-free drinks that looked like everyone else's (that night, it failed). "We live in a world where you might have to stealth drink." With clients, he changed the activity: "I wanted to build good relationships," he says, so he organized a relay race and took clients cycling (Rich Roll Podcast, 2024). In a UK study of 310 women in midlife, where other people's drinking was among the strongest links with how much they drank, swapping the drink or the activity was the most highly rated of 12 kinds of support (Davies et al., 2026).

An event checklist your team can adapt

The evidence behind each line is modest, so try it on a few events and ask people afterwards.

For individuals, see our guides to sober curious, non-alcoholic beer and how to drink less.

How can a company support people who want to drink less?

Offer help everyone can use privately. Fairbairns says many employees "will never raise their hand" about alcohol, partly because some contracts threaten dismissal for a drinking problem (Rich Roll Podcast, 2024). A German trial points the same way. It enrolled 434 working adults (average age 47) who drank above low-risk limits and signed up on their own. A five-week online self-help program cut weekly drinking by about five standard drinks (of 10 to 12 grams) more than waiting did, and the gap held at six months. Adding a psychologist as an online coach helped people finish more of it but didn't change how much they drank, and very few asked the coach for feedback; the authors suggest fear of stigma and of disclosing as one reason (Boß et al., 2018). It's one trial of a different program, compared with waiting.

Matt Field, a professor at the University of Sheffield, says the clearest finding in UK evaluations of Dry January is that people grow more confident they can say no, which went with drinking less six months later, though it "hasn't been consistently seen in other countries" (The Alcohol 'Problem' Podcast, 2022).

One line belongs in any message about drinking, in the program's own words: "If your body may have got used to alcohol, stopping or cutting down quickly can make you unwell, sometimes seriously. Talk to a doctor before you change how much you drink. A doctor can help you cut down or stop safely, usually without a hospital stay." If a plan isn't enough, talk to a doctor or a local alcohol service. Managers have no role in anyone's plan: they don't ask, check or follow up.

Where a program fits

The drink at home after work is each person's own, and that's where a program can help. The 1h Protocol to Reduce Your Drinking is an education program of about an hour, and the first chapter is free: each person chooses a goal (to drink less, take a break or stop), finds the pattern their evenings follow and gets one first step. If their body may have got used to alcohol, the program asks them to talk to a doctor first and never sets a sudden stop. They leave with their goal, their chosen changes and a line for the first drink on one page, a lock-screen card and a fourteen-day sheet, followed by short check-ins by email on days 1, 7, 14 and 30. It's new, so there's no outcome data on it yet.

Companies buy program credits. One credit unlocks one full program for one person; the company decides who gets how many credits, and each person chooses their programs. Our team works with HR to choose which programs to highlight, prepare the launch and review participation and the anonymous results. Your dashboard shows who has joined and each person's credits, so you can manage them; everything else is anonymous totals for groups of five or more, never anyone's programs, answers, progress or plan. Pair a small pilot with the checklist and review both after a few months: request a quote, or see the programs.

Frequently asked questions

Why is there so much pressure to drink at work events?

Mostly belonging. Drinking is something people do together, so not drinking can look like stepping out of the group. Alcohol also eases the first minutes with strangers.

How can we make work events inclusive for people who don't drink?

Offer good alcohol-free drinks first and serve them the same way, build some events around food or an activity, and let nobody ask why someone isn't drinking.

Should we ban alcohol at company events?

Usually not as a first step: a ban keeps the drink at the center. Changing defaults and formats addresses the pressure directly, and some events, such as daytime ones, can simply be alcohol-free.

Do long hours make people drink more?

Slightly, on average. Across 100,602 workers in nine countries, those working more than 48 hours a week were a little more likely to move into risky drinking, by under one percentage point. It's a link, not proof of cause.

How can a company support people who want to drink less?

Offer private, self-chosen help that everyone can use without disclosing anything, where the employer never sees anyone's choices or answers. If your body may have got used to alcohol, talk to a doctor before you change how much you drink.

Sources

This article draws on a lab experiment on alcohol and group bonding, a meta-analysis of working hours and drinking, a UK study of midlife women, a German trial of an online program for employees, and interviews with Keith Humphreys, Angela Duckworth, Mike Maughan, Ruari Fairbairns and Matt Field.

• No Stupid Questions 154: Why is there so much social pressure around alcohol? (podcast episode, hosts Angela Duckworth and Mike Maughan, 2023)
• Huberman Lab: Dr. Keith Humphreys, How to overcome addiction to substances or behaviors (podcast episode, 2026)
• Sayette et al., Alcohol and group formation (randomized lab experiment, 720 social drinkers aged 21 to 28, Pittsburgh, US, Psychological Science, 2012)
• The Rich Roll Podcast 805: Ruari Fairbairns, The limitless power of an alcohol-free lifestyle (podcast episode, 2024; the guest co-founded One Year No Beer, which sells challenges to individuals and employers)
• Virtanen et al., Long working hours and alcohol use (systematic review and individual-participant meta-analysis; prospective part 20 studies, 100,602 workers, nine countries; BMJ, 2015)
• Davies et al., "It's difficult when everyone else is drinking, you don't feel part of the tribe" (Delphi study with survey of 310 women in midlife and focus groups, UK, Psychology & Health, online June 2025)
• Boß et al., Efficacy of a web-based intervention with and without guidance for employees with risky drinking (three-arm randomized trial, 434 employees, Germany, Addiction, 2018; some authors hold shares in the company that licenses the program)
• The Alcohol 'Problem' Podcast: Dry January and temporary abstinence, is it worth it? With Prof. Matt Field (podcast episode, 2022)