You Write Policy, and You Drink

You write the rules. People come to you when someone at work is in trouble with alcohol, and then you go home and drink. The pamphlet in the rack feels like it was printed to keep you on the enforcing side of the table.

It was written for people like you. It is not a verdict that you cannot sit down.

The pamphlet is about the employee

The catalog calls it Is There a Problem Drinker in the Workplace? It is for management and union officials. It gives a concise description of help A.A. can offer the alcoholic employee. Read that job honestly. It is aimed at the person who has to think about someone else's drinking at work. It is not a ruling that the author of the policy is barred from a chair.

You can be the manager. You can be the union official. You can be both the person who helped write the language and the person who needs a meeting. Those facts can occupy the same week. The pamphlet does not have to be settled before you walk in. You do not have to brief the room on your memo.

If you are the employee who found a leaflet, and the fear is that work already knows, that is a different night. To employers, when work already knows is the guide for that fear. Stay with this if you are the one who writes the policy and you are also the one who drinks.

The line is desire, and the welcome includes your job

The only requirement for membership is a desire to stop drinking. A clean personnel file is not the requirement. A union office is not the requirement. The newcomer welcome includes profession. It also includes income, and the rest of the human facts it names: race, gender, sexual orientation, religion. Your title does not have to be translated into something humbler before you are welcome.

There are no dues or fees. You can sit and listen, or you can share. If you share, you do not have to say what you do for work. Introducing yourself is not mandatory. You need not join a prayer. You can leave without turning the meeting into a report for the people you supervise, or for the members you represent.

Nothing in this hour is labor law. Nothing here is your handbook, your contract, or a grievance path. The pamphlet is not those documents. Do not come to a meeting for what a workplace is allowed to do. That answer is not in the pamphlet, and it is not in the folding chair. Leave the legal question with people who actually practice it. You came because you drink.

Anonymity is not a lock on the building

Tradition Eleven keeps personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films. People hear that and hope it means the plant will never know. It does not. It is about public media. It is not a promise your workplace will never find out. If someone from the floor sees you near a listed room, the tradition does not rewind their eyes. If nobody has seen you, the tradition still does not guarantee a secret.

You can pick a meeting away from the worksite. Meetings are in person, online, or by phone. Online can be video off, or you can dial in. A closed meeting is for members, or for people with a drinking problem and a desire to stop. An open meeting is for anyone interested, and nonalcoholics may attend as observers. If you do not want a curious visitor from the office, a closed meeting is the plainer fit, and even then a coworker who wants to stop can be in the room for their own reason. You can still listen. You do not have to manage them.

aa.org is not a meeting finder. Local lists have the meetings. The meetings search on this site is not verified, so confirm the listing. You do not have to start a group at the company. You do not have to put a meeting on company property to deserve one somewhere else.

Court and treatment referrals are welcome, and membership is voluntary. If the company sent someone else, that is their night. Yours can be quieter. Proof of attendance has no set procedure, and you do not need a slip to prove to yourself that you went.

If you are sick

Do not stay in the office and hope the shift ends the danger. Call 911 if you are sick, confused, or cannot breathe. Call or text 988 if you are in a mental health crisis. NIAAA says alcohol withdrawal can be life-threatening when a person who drinks heavily over time stops suddenly.

NIDA says mutual-help groups such as A.A. are peer-led, not led by healthcare professionals, and not a substitute for treatment. A meeting is not detox. SAMHSA's National Helpline, 1-800-662-HELP (4357), is free, confidential, and available 24/7 in English and Spanish. FindTreatment.gov lists programs.

Tonight

You can write policy at work and still need a chair. The pamphlet about the employee is not a verdict on you. Go to one meeting and listen. Use the meetings search and confirm the listing. A video-off or phone meeting counts if being seen near work is the fear. Call (800) 653-9376 if you need treatment; the call is free to you, treatment providers pay for the referral, the line is not an intergroup, and the line is not A.A., and it is not SMART Recovery.

Additional Resources

Sources cited on this page:

• A.A. World Services 2025 literature catalog (P-54 Is There a Problem Drinker in the Workplace?)
• A.A.: Need help with a drinking problem?
• A.A.: The Twelve Traditions
• A.A.: What to Expect at an A.A. Meeting
• A.A.: Find A.A. Near You
• NIAAA Core Resource: Alcohol Use Disorder, From Risk to Diagnosis to Recovery
• NIDA: Treatment, including mutual-help groups
• SAMHSA National Helpline
• SAMHSA FindTreatment.gov
• 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline
• SmarterRecovery meetings page (listings are not verified)
• SmarterRecovery about page (calling is free to the caller)

Common Questions