WITH the Christmas party season in full flow, UK employers have been warned that 17% of their workforce will be attending work with a hangover.

And findings from private healthcare group PruHealth have also shown that a quarter of employees admit to making mistakes at work when they have a hangover and 83% say it makes a difference to the way they work.

A third said they ‘drift off’ and do not work at their usual pace and 28% suffer from headaches and cannot concentrate.

For employers with company car drivers on their books, procedures should be put in place to deal with the problem.

Roger Singer, managing director of drug and alcohol awareness group Avoidd, said: ‘Driving with a hangover compounds the problem. Fleet managers should have a policy stating that employees must be free from alcohol and not impaired by drugs.’