This policy change was motivated by the fact that approximately a half of incidents deserving discipline caused by employees was relevant to alcohol drinking.
Under the new regulation, Loyd's London employees should refrain from drinking alcohol during 9-17 from Monday to Friday.
International Business Times: Lloyd's of London bans staff from daytime drinking
Some people are opposing this policy. According to the article above, there are two points of the argument. First, some criticize the banning would get rid of employees' joyous time. Second, some claim that forbidding alcohol is too strict for most employees who can be temperate to excessive drinking.
I think that the second opinion lacks evidence. The data submitted by Lloyd's suggests that alcohol is to some extent responsible for misconduct of the employees. If this hypothesis is correct, the incident rate in Lloyd's will be reduced after banning daytime drinking. I think the possibility for Lloyd's to prove the increased business risk with drinking is high.
The other point of discussion is more complicated. Drinking alcohol at lunch is a cultural behavior in Europe. In Japan, few people drink alcohol at daytime. Thus, most Japanese people would deem the new regulation in Lloyd's appropriate. However, it is not easy for most people to alter their daily habits. Many European people love drinking as natural. And in my sense, considerable persentage of such people are alcohol abusers.
It is unclear if other companies will follow the Lloyd's attempt. Perhaps some companies share the same issue. Each company has to make decision for better performance and employees' satisfaction.
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