North Carolinians are tops for drinking on the job during pandemic, survey finds

People in North Carolina are apparently hitting the bottle while working from home during the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a survey by Fishbowl, a social network “for verified employees.”

The survey, released Monday, questioned nearly 13,000 workers in all 50 states and found 47.7% of the people working from home in North Carolina admitted to drinking on the job.

Oregon and Connecticut followed closely with 47.58% and 47.41%, respectively, the survey showed. Colorado and Washington came in next at 46%.

Nationwide, just under 42% of respondents said they had been drinking while working at home during the coronavirus outbreak, Fishbowl reported.

“Advertising and marketing agency employees had the highest percentage of employees answering with ‘Yes’, with 49.14%,” according to the company.

More than half of those surveyed said they feared layoffs due to the pandemic and 60% said COVID-19 “had caused clients to pause or cancel work,” the survey said.

Arkansas was at the bottom of the list with 28%, the survey showed.

The survey didn’t ask people how much they were drinking or what type of alcohol they preferred to sip while working.

North Carolina’s two largest counties — Mecklenburg and Wake — have reported an uptick in sales since Gov. Roy Cooper closed restaurants and bars and issued a stay-at-home order last month.

Wake County made $4 million more in March in retail alcohol sales than during the same month last year, The News & Observer reported.

“For more than a month now, millions of employees have been working from home to prevent the spread of COVID-19,” Fishbowl said in a press release.

“This recent shift to remote work has certainly been an adjustment for all; we have discovered that 54% fear layoffs at their company. Sixty percent of working professions said that the Covid-19 pandemic has caused clients to pause or cancel work.”

This story was originally published April 20, 2020 at 2:58 PM with the headline "North Carolinians are tops for drinking on the job during pandemic, survey finds."