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Recovery in the News
Should You Tell Your Boss if You Are an Alcoholic
Jessica Wakeman
TheStreet.com
May 21, 2008
Her name is Kristen Davis, and she’s an alcoholic.
When asked why she is 43-years-old but looks like she is only 30, the Sex & The City (TWC) actress told health.com that she is a recovering alcoholic who never drinks.
“I’ve never hid it, but I’ve been sober the whole time I’ve been famous, so it wasn’t like I had to go to rehab publicly,” she told the site.
Davis says that when she goes out, she often must politely decline the many complimentary Cosmo's sent her way by zealous fans. “I don’t think you can mess with it. There was a time when people who didn’t know me well would say, ‘Couldn’t you just have one glass of champagne?’” She tells health.com. “And I would say, 'No.' I’m doing well. I still have occasional bad days. Why risk it?”
More than 17 million people over the age of 18 abuse alcohol or are alcohol dependent, according to a recent study by the National Institute of Health. That’s 8.46 percent of the population, and a significant portion of the workforce. At the top of her career, Davis can publicly discuss her alcoholism and her successful sobriety. But should you tell your boss if you are an alcoholic?
Penelope Trunk, author of Brazen Careerist: The New Rules for Success, who blogs at Brazen Careerist says not to advertise the information unless you are directly asked in a way that somehow pertains to work. “If it comes up, I don’t think you have to hide it,” she says. But most likely, it isn’t going to come up – and that’s a good thing.
Friends may have compassion for your addiction troubles, but co-workers – and bosses especially – just care that you do a good job. “People mistake the workplace to be a safe, friendly environment and that people are their friends. That’s not true,” she says. “Get your work done. For everything else, they can cut you a lot of slack.”
There are only a couple specific situations where Trunk thinks it may be a good idea to say, “I’m an alcoholic.”
For example, if you’re checking into rehab a la Amy Winehouse or Lindsay Lohan, you cannot try to pin your upcoming absence from work on anything other than addiction recovery. “I don’t think it works to say you have a ‘family emergency’ and leave for three weeks,” Trunk says.
Likewise, if you are sober, and you know coworkers or a boss are also sober, it may be appropriate to share your struggles with alcohol with them because they’re likely to speak the same “language” of addiction as you do, Trunk says.
Also, coworkers are often one of the first people to know if you’re an alcoholic, says Trunk. If a coworker takes you aside to ask what’s going on with your drinking, then your secret is definitely out and it may be appropriate to tell your boss you are taking steps to address your alcohol abuse, she says. When the whole office knows that you have an addiction problem, some colleagues – including those who are in recovery—may reach out to you. This intervention is a “gift,” Trunk says
Ideally, your boss will not hold your struggle with addiction against you. Sobriety like Davis’ shows “determination, focus and a self-knowledge you absolutely have to have in the workplace,” says Trunk. Hopefully your boss will understand that “for someone to have that is a huge achievement – they’d make a great employee.”
© 2008 TheStreet.com, Inc.