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Four out of ten employers believe alcohol misuse to be a significant cause of lost productivity and employee absence, according to a new survey.

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and People Management magazine report also found that one third of organisations have similar problems as a result of drug misuse.

Despite the level of concern the survey showed that the majority of businesses do not have policies in place to help employees with drug and alcohol dependency problems.

Just under 40 per cent of the 500 organisations surveyed provide affected employees with co-ordinated rehabilitation support to help them return to work after treatment.

And only half of employers provide access to counselling or occupational health services for employees who have dependency problems.

Providing such access is beneficial, the survey suggests, as where organisations referred employees with drug or alcohol problems to specialist treatment or gave them rehabilitation support, more than 60 per cent remained working for the organisation after successfully managing their problem.

Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser and author of the report said: "Supporting employees with drug and alcohol problems has a high success rate with many individuals returning to work.

"But organisations must make employees aware of the policies and support in place otherwise they will not have the confidence to hold their hand up and acknowledge they have a problem and need help."

The Health and Safety Executive estimates that up to 14 million working days are lost each year due to alcohol related problems, costing British industry an estimated £2 billion each year.