What’s more dangerous than the office Christmas party? The morning after — when one lapse in judgement can cost an employee their job, or your business a tribunal.

As December arrives, the Christmas trees go up, and many UK employers turn their attention to workplace drug and alcohol support.

The workforce see morning-after fit-for-work checks and increased pressure placed on managers to keep their teams safe during the busiest and most unpredictable time of the year.

Yet one truth continues to be overlooked: you do not need to discipline or dismiss someone for a single failed drug or alcohol test. A smarter, safer and more compassionate approach exists, and it is proven to protect both people and organisations.

The Christmas season brings with it alcohol, long nights and huge end-of-year demands.

Even your most reliable employees can be caught out by morning-after impairment in the workplace.

This isn’t about recklessness or a lack of care; it’s about human nature and the reality of fatigue, stress and social pressure colliding all at once.

Dismissing someone for one mistake does not make the workplace safer, nor does it strengthen culture or reduce legal and financial risk. In fact, it often creates fear and silence, exactly the conditions where incidents and poor decisions begin.

A support-first model, or what we call Better Testing, offers a better way forward. It focuses on understanding, rehabilitation and proper education rather than punishment.

This approach gives managers confidence, clarity and a clear legal footing, while employees receive guidance, fair testing procedures and a pathway to get back on track.

Increasingly, UK employers are searching for terms like “how to support an employee after a failed drug test,” “workplace drug and alcohol support services,” and “morning-after impairment in the workplace.”

This shift reflects a realisation that smart employers support people instead of sacrificing them.

December is the time when these issues come to the surface. Fatigue is high, alcohol use peaks, and mistakes often happen the day after the celebration. This is also the time of year when tribunals can increase, largely because processes were rushed and are seen as unfair or inconsistent with ACAS and HSE expectations.

A well-designed drug and alcohol policy, combined with proper testing procedures and fair management training, dramatically reduces this risk. It keeps you compliant, protects your reputation and builds a safer work environment for everyone.

If you want to reduce risk, maintain safety and build trust within your teams this December, start by putting a supportive testing framework in place. Better Testing is about helping people, not catching them out.

It strengthens your organisation from the inside out, reduces operational risk and ensures that a single mistake doesn’t derail a career or cost your business a tribunal.

If you need help implementing a compliant policy, improving your morning-after approach or training your workforce properly, I am here to support you.