I was wondering what kind of place this was that allowed workers to get drunk at lunch. However now that I realize it is in the UK, it makes a bit more sense.
I was talking to my boss once, he worked in London for a while. He once said that the biggest difference between American workers, and English workers is attitude towards alcohol.
Having worked many years in both the UK and the USA I'd say your boss doesn't know what they are talking about. The differences are much more than that, more subtle, more culturally nuanced. In the UK, just as in the US, the idea of several pints of beer at lunchtime is an out dated concept.
I don't care about this one. Butt-in-seat time is an outdated measurement.
2-6) Pretty easy to deal with this: your workers are behaving irresponsibly by coming in drunk and making mistakes. So you terminate them and get people who can deal with alcohol responsibly (I don't mean you can't have a drink at lunch, just be professional and don't get drunk when you're supposed to be working).
> but the UK has a poor reputation for the quality of middle management in industry.
If you find a place that has good middle management let me know and I'll have a look! :)
1) Late return to work
2) Tipsy / drunk workers taking longer to get stuff done
3) tipsy / drunk workers doing stuff worse, thus needed it to be reworked
4) tipsy / drunk workers not inspecting properly leading to increased returns from customers
5) the occasional broken / lost item (with JIT this can be a considerable delay if it's the right item)
6) occasional broken tools
7) sober workers resentful at drunk workers and at bad management not doing anything about it.
etc etc.
Yep, a lot of this is down to management, but the UK has a poor reputation for the quality of middle management in industry.