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Is it okay to drink non-alcoholic beer in the office?

30 August 2023 By James Evison

Actor Kristen Bell recently said even her children drink non-alcoholic beer, which begs the question: is it okay for workers to quaff low- and no-alcohol in the office? db investigates.

Male and female colleagues toasting drinks. Businesswomen and businessmen are celebrating success. They are in creative office.

Following Bell’s comments, the question of where it is acceptable to drink non-alcoholic beers has now become a hot topic online, with a variety of users questioning whether it would be okay to crack open a bottle while working.

The raising of the question isn’t a surprise. There has been a growing popularity of low- and no-alcohol products, with such products continuing to soar as db reported in June that sales of non-alcoholic drinks surged, outranked figures from Dry January this year. Indeed, UK supermarket Tesco said that sales of no/low beer are 25% higher in June than January, at a time when the price of a pint of lager in the on-trade has risen by more than 50p within the space of a single year, according to data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

So with people reaching for the low- and no-alcohol drinks, can they bring one back to the desk at lunchtime with their pre-packed sandwich and crisps?

According to site LowBeers: “While there is no law prohibiting the consumption of non-alcoholic beer in the workplace, some companies may have internal policies against it. It is important to check with your employer before cracking open a can of non-alcoholic beer at your desk.

“Additionally, it is important to consider the perception of drinking non-alcoholic beer at work. Some people may view it as unprofessional or inappropriate. It is important to weigh the potential consequences and make an informed decision before consuming non-alcoholic beer in the workplace.”

Perception

There is also a popular reddit thread about whether it is okay to drink non-alcoholic beer at your desk, and if it is “acceptable”. It would seem the biggest concern revolves around a perception, especially considering the similarity of packaging for low- and no-alcohol drinks and their alcoholic counterparts.

One of the most popular answers says it is one of those “weird social quirks that don’t really have a logical answer”. The user said: “It should be entirely fair to make a nice alcohol free cocktail but if you sit at your desk with a big cocktail glass, complete with fruit and little umbrellas, it just sends the wrong message. And I think alcohol free beer is in that same category – it’s a drink that says I’m kicking back and relaxing.”

A recent article by Sky News also asked a number of experts, including Andrew Wills from law firm Croner, who said that consuming a non-alcoholic drink in the workplace was not illegal, and compared it to vaping.

He said: “If employers do allow non-alcoholic drinks in the workplace, they will need to consider how they will monitor what their employees are drinking given how alike the bottles or cans look to drinks containing alcohol. Many employers may decide it is a problem they could just do without and so decide to deem it unacceptable.”

It would appear that employers, much like with vaping, are going to have to consider in the future if an open bottle of non-alcoholic beer is acceptable…or not.

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