Microsoft wants staff to cut down on drinking

REDMOND SOFTWARE HOUSE Microsoft has cautioned its staff against going too crazy on booze and making fools of themselves.

The firm communicated its desire for a less boozy holiday season late last year, according to a report at the Telegraph, and in an official communication asked them to drink less at work related parties and make sure that their colleagues do the same.

"Even in the absence of an express legal requirement, Microsoft expects event organisers and participants to exercise common sense and good judgment when alcoholic beverages are served at social events," says an email that follows accounts of staffers behaving badly.

"Food should be served along with alcoholic beverages, participants should manage their level of alcohol consumption [and] event sponsors should ensure that alternative forms of transportation are available. Any participant who becomes inebriated should be prevented from consuming alcoholic beverages and from operating a vehicle."

The email apparently came from Robert Youngjohns, president of Microsoft North America. We have asked the firm's UK office to comment.

The Telegraph has been a close watcher of booze-fuelled boorishness at Microsoft and its UK offices, and in a recent expose wrote that staff often got so drunk at events that they did not remember what had happened the morning after. µ