People Are Drinking on the Job While Working From Home

Now that work, play and leisure all happen in the exact same environment — that is, whatever home you’ve committed to staying inside of for the foreseeable future — the lines between those normally compartmentalized facets of American life are becoming increasingly blurred. When sleeping, working and Zoom happy hours all take place between one of two pieces of furniture in your home, there’s bound to be some overlap, and it seems many Americans are mixing alcohol and work into a highly inadvisable daily quarantine cocktail.

A new survey from Alcohol.org reveals more Americans are drinking during work hours while working from home. According to the survey of 3,000 Americans, Rhode Island, New Hampshire and Virginia are the booziest of the bunch, where 50 percent or more of employees admitted to drinking on the job in quarantine.

Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Iowa, Idaho, Nevada and Montana also reported high levels of early at-home drinking, with each state reporting rates of work-from-home imbibing at around 40 percent. Meanwhile in New York and California, 38 percent of quarantined employees admitted to cracking one open on the job.

The survey also revealed that one-fifth of Americans stock-piled alcohol for quarantine, and that beer is the drink of choice for boozing during work hours.

With alcohol one of the few joys left in quarantine-era life, increasing consumption is only to be expected as people try to fight the anxiety and boredom of life in the end times. According to the Alcohol.org survey, one in three respondents said they are likely to drink more in isolation.

Is this advisable? Experts have given a pretty unanimous no from day one. But hey, it’s Zoom happy hour somewhere.

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