Sunday, March 18, 2007

Companies are unaware of the potential risks and dangers to their workplace
from pathological gambling, addiction specialists have warned. While the
government recently announced the go-ahead of the first super-casino to be
built in Manchester, spanning 5,000sqm and housing up to 1,250
unlimited-jackpot slot machines, Capio Nightingale, a private psychiatric
care hospital based in London, launched a dedicated gambling addiction
service to meet the increasing prevalence of problem gamblers. The
hospital's
joint lead consultant psychiatrist, Dr Henrietta Bowden-Jones, told Health
Insurance that employers were still unaware of the chaos it can cause in the
workplace. "A lot of people gamble for fun, but many have a predisposition
to have problems - 0.8% of the population become pathological gamblers," she
said. "Gambling pre-occupies their thoughts and activities so they not only
disregard expected duties with family and friends but it will affect their
work." Problem gamblers typically present decreased productivity, are more
aggressive or irritable with colleagues, and can perform badly at their
occupation. "A lot of tension is typically built up before a manager or
employer even recognises that there is a problem," she said. The stress of
gambling can lead to further personal problems for the individual, such as
an increase in alcohol or drug taking, depression and even legal and
financial problems for the company.
"There have been cases of employees stealing to supplement their gambling,
and there may be a risk to a company, but this is very much an exception
rather than a rule. What is really the risk is that the employee is so
preoccupied with gambling they are out of step with the mission of the
company and morale of the workforce suffers. I have seen cases of very high
level managers creating ripple effects of problems that have affected a
whole company. There is a major problem when a key person has their eye off
the ball," warned Bowden-Jones. While some board directors and HR personnel
are aware of problem gambling, there needs to be as much understanding as
there is for alcohol and drug addiction, she said. "The effect that gambling
has on the mental health of employees is not an area that has been explored
in depth enough yet. Any manager or employer who suspects that someone has a
problem should start with a very frank discussion and then raise their own
awareness of pathological gambling and what it leads people to do."