Alcohol Addiction And Family Businesses – How Is It Plaguing The Closest Knots?

Mihai-Alexandru Cristea 30/06/2022 | 13:20

Alcohol addiction can pose a lot of problems. It can damage relationships and also turn life upside down. But when it’s a threat to a family business, it can jeopardize more than just your livelihood.

 

Alcohol addiction can affect those who may be employed by your business. It can also lead to adverse effects such as loss of revenue, customers, and even the business shutting down and putting people out of work. Yes, an alcohol addiction can affect lives even if it includes people you may never meet.

If you are dealing with an alcohol issue, this guide via Infinite Recovery can help. Let’s take a look now at how alcohol addiction can affect a family business.

 

You may be running consistently late

If you are dealing with alcohol addiction, you may be shirking your responsibilities. This includes showing up for work late. It can also expand into showing up late for client meetings.

Your clients may forgive your tardiness to an extent. If it continues being the norm, they may lose trust in you (and the business as a whole). As a result, this could mean taking their business elsewhere.

Imagine your business losing a longtime client due to yours (or someone’s) alcohol addiction. Such behavior like consistent tardiness may not be appreciated. It can also cause your reputation to be damaged (both professional and personal).

 

You won’t look or act like a professional

Customers or clients expect those serving them to be as professional as possible. Alcohol addiction can affect this kind of behavior. You may show up to a meeting drunk or smelling of alcohol.

You may even look disheveled in your appearance. Looking like this will be unprofessional and it will make your clients feel uneasy and concerned. If you are running the business, this is another strike that can be cast against you.

If a member of your family is behaving like this, it can also be another headache that you’ll have to deal with as a business owner. Don’t let this behavior be something that will cause your business to lose more than just money.

 

You may act hostile towards employees, clients, etc.

You may be under the influence of alcohol and act hostile towards people that are a part of your business. This can include your clients that are paying good money to do business with you. It can also include employees who are trying to work hard to provide for themselves and their families.

If your alcohol addiction causes you to act in a way that makes employees and clients feel uncomfortable, this is a dangerous situation for your business. Employees will not feel comfortable coming into work.

In fact, some of them may quit out of fear. Imagine behaving in a way that is caused by alcohol and causing someone to make a life-altering decision. This is something that you don’t want to do to anyone.

This is one more good reason why you or someone in your family needs to get help for alcohol addiction now. Your employees will look at their time at your company unfavorably because of your behavior.

Likewise, your clients and customers may take their business elsewhere because of hostile behavior. Your business should be a safe environment for these people that want to keep your business up and running.

 

It can dissolve partnerships

If you and a member of your family are partners in a business, working together is essential. If one of you is dealing with an alcohol issue, this can jeopardize the partnership. It can get to the point where it can get dissolved in a moment’s notice.

You may feel like you can’t tackle the business alone. So it may lead to temporarily shutting it down while you’re trying to reorganize things. When this happens, people will be out of work and clients will begin to worry.

It’s important to get the help you (or that person that you’ve partnered with) as soon as possible. The future of your business will depend on this decision. Think about it for a moment.

If you or that family member doesn’t seek treatment, will your business still operate at least 12 months from now? What if they do go forward with treating their addiction? One decision can make the difference when it comes to the future of the business (and the employees that work there).

 

You could leave people jobless

As mentioned a few times, a shuttered business is possible with alcohol addiction. This can be due to several factors on yours (or a member of your family’s) part. It can get to a point where your business will see a downward trend in revenue and clients.

This can also lead you to making the toughest decisions of your professional life. This means you will be laying off people in a cost-saving measure. Eventually, it could get to a point where everyone working for you will be out of a job.

This has happened before due to someone’s addiction. Even if it’s employees you have never met before, an addiction can affect them negatively. Do yourself and the people working for you a favor.

If it’s you dealing with an alcohol addiction of your own, step aside and let someone take over for a while. If it’s someone else, encourage them to get the help they need. Remind them why the family business may not have a future if they don’t follow through.

 

Final Thoughts

If you are running a family business, alcohol addiction can ruin it. Whether it’s your own addiction or someone helping you run the business, you want to make sure that treatment is done as soon as possible. The future of your business will ride on this life-changing decision.

Get the treatment needed and your business’s future will look brighter. Plus, you (or someone in your family) will feel better knowing they have made the right decision. Contact Infinite Recovery now to get started.

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