I am the team lead of a team of ten. One of my team members in the past has undergone counseling due to alcohol abuse / excessive drinking.

Let's reframe this a little: you have at least one team member with a history of alcohol abuse. With ten people in the team, it's quite likely (I'd estimate more likely than not) that the one you know about isn't the only one. Some may have other reasons for being uncomfortable at alcohol-heavy events e.g. family history, religious restrictions, pregnancy/medical, etc. etc.

You can still talk to that guy one-on-one. But this is something that's worth checking at a team level, and would be even if he wasn't in the picture. Perhaps something like this:

Hi team, as you know the bosses have invited us to dinner and drinks during their visit. I know not everybody drinks, so I wanted to check whether this venue is okay for all of us. If you have any concerns, please let me know and we can discuss.

Even if changing the venue isn't an option, there are ways to reduce the emphasis on alcohol, e.g.:

• No free bar tab. Covering food and soft drinks but not booze helps reduce the pressure on people to drink alcohol and gives an easy excuse for non-drinkers.
• No "shouts" (events where people are expected to buy rounds for one another).
• Focus on non-alcoholic options for team bonding, e.g. icebreaker games rather than just getting hammered together.
• Move on to a non-alcoholic event/location after the meal.

Even just discussing this issue with management and your team can be helpful. The discussion can be a reminder to drinkers to be respectful of non-drinkers' choices, and it shows the non-drinkers that their choices are recognised and supported.

Noting that this is a topic where workplace culture varies hugely from industry to industry, all the way from totally dry events to near-mandatory heavy drinking, so it's hard to give a universal answer, but that's how I'd approach it.

Personal experience: I'm not a teetotaller but I don't drink much and I really don't like being pressured to drink, something that has occasionally happened at work events.

Some years back, my then-team was voting on options for a social event. The winning option was a winery tour, but our boss noticed that several people had put this as their least preferred option. So before locking that choice in, he emailed us all to check whether anybody had problems with that venue, with the implication that if it was a deal-breaker we'd do something else. My script above is similar to what he sent us.

For me, the fact that he stopped to ask made a big difference to my comfort. It meant that I could go to the winery knowing that I wasn't going to be hassled about not drinking.

FWIW, Ask A Manager has a lot of discussion about alcohol at work events. I didn't find one that addresses your question directly, but that more general discussion might still be useful for ideas on how to negotiate this kind of thing, and on some potential problems to watch out for.

I am the team lead of a team of ten. One of my team members in the past has undergone counseling due to alcohol abuse / excessive drinking.

Let's reframe this a little: you have at least one team member with a history of alcohol abuse. With ten people in the team, it's quite likely (I'd estimate more likely than not) that the one you know about isn't the only one. Some may have other reasons for being uncomfortable at alcohol-heavy events e.g. family history, religious restrictions, pregnancy/medical, etc. etc.

You can still talk to that guy one-on-one. But this is something that's worth checking at a team level, and would be even if he wasn't in the picture. Perhaps something like this:

Hi team, as you know the bosses have invited us to dinner and drinks during their visit. I know not everybody drinks, so I wanted to check whether this venue is okay for all of us. If you have any concerns, please let me know via email/in our next one-on-one/[some other private option] and we can discuss.

Even if changing the venue isn't an option, there are ways to reduce the emphasis on alcohol, e.g.:

• No free bar tab. Covering food and soft drinks but not booze helps reduce the pressure on people to drink alcohol and gives an easy excuse for non-drinkers.
• No "shouts" (events where people are expected to buy rounds for one another).
• Focus on non-alcoholic options for team bonding, e.g. icebreaker games rather than just getting hammered together.
• Move on to a non-alcoholic event/location after the meal.

Even just discussing this issue with management and your team can be helpful. The discussion can be a reminder to drinkers to be respectful of non-drinkers' choices, and it shows the non-drinkers that their choices are recognised and supported.

Noting that this is a topic where workplace culture varies hugely from industry to industry, all the way from totally dry events to near-mandatory heavy drinking, so it's hard to give a universal answer, but that's how I'd approach it.

Personal experience: I'm not a teetotaller but I don't drink much and I really don't like being pressured to drink, something that has occasionally happened at work events.

Some years back, my then-team was voting on options for a social event. The winning option was a winery tour, but our boss noticed that several people had put this as their least preferred option. So before locking that choice in, he emailed us all to check whether anybody had problems with that venue, with the implication that if it was a deal-breaker we'd do something else. My script above is similar to what he sent us.

For me, the fact that he stopped to ask made a big difference to my comfort. It meant that I could go to the winery knowing that I wasn't going to be hassled about not drinking.

FWIW, Ask A Manager has a lot of discussion about alcohol at work events. I didn't find one that addresses your question directly, but that more general discussion might still be useful for ideas on how to negotiate this kind of thing, and on some potential problems to watch out for.

I am the team lead of a team of ten. One of my team members in the past has undergone counseling due to alcohol abuse / excessive drinking.

Let's reframe this a little: you have at least one team member with a history of alcohol abuse. With ten people in the team, it's quite likely (I'd estimate more likely than not) that the one you know about isn't the only one. Some may have other reasons for being uncomfortable at alcohol-heavy events e.g. family history, religious restrictions, pregnancy/medical, etc. etc.

You can still talk to that guy one-on-one. But this is something that's worth checking at a team level, and would be even if he wasn't in the picture. Perhaps something like this:

Hi team, as you know the bosses have invited us to dinner and drinks during their visit. I know not everybody drinks, so I wanted to check whether this venue is okay for all of us. If you have any concerns, please let me know and we can discuss.

Even if changing the venue isn't an option, there are ways to reduce the emphasis on alcohol, e.g.:

• No free bar tab. Covering food and soft drinks but not booze helps reduce the pressure on people to drink alcohol and gives an easy excuse for non-drinkers.
• No "shouts" (events where people are expected to buy rounds for one another).
• Focus on non-alcoholic options for team bonding, e.g. icebreaker games rather than just getting hammered together.
• Move on to a non-alcoholic event/location after the meal.

Even just discussing this issue with management and your team can be helpful. The discussion can be a reminder to drinkers to be respectful of non-drinkers' choices, and it shows the non-drinkers that their choices are recognised and supported.

Noting that this is a topic where workplace culture varies hugely from industry to industry, all the way from totally dry events to near-mandatory heavy drinking, so it's hard to give a universal answer, but that's how I'd approach it.

Personal experience: I'm not a teetotaller but I don't drink much and I really don't like being pressured to drink, something that has occasionally happened at work events.

Some years back, my then-team was voting on options for a social event. The winning option was a winery tour, but our boss noticed that several people had put this as their least preferred option. So before locking that choice in, he emailed us all to check whether anybody had problems with that venue, with the implication that if it was a deal-breaker we'd do something else. My script above is similar to what he sent us.

For me, the fact that he stopped to ask made a big difference to my comfort. It meant that I could go to the winery knowing that I wasn't going to be hassled about not drinking.

I am the team lead of a team of ten. One of my team members in the past has undergone counseling due to alcohol abuse / excessive drinking.

Let's reframe this a little: you have at least one team member with a history of alcohol abuse. With ten people in the team, it's quite likely (I'd estimate more likely than not) that the one you know about isn't the only one. Some may have other reasons for being uncomfortable at alcohol-heavy events e.g. family history, religious restrictions, pregnancy/medical, etc. etc.

You can still talk to that guy one-on-one. But this is something that's worth checking at a team level, and would be even if he wasn't in the picture. Perhaps something like this:

Hi team, as you know the bosses have invited us to dinner and drinks during their visit. I know not everybody drinks, so I wanted to check whether this venue is okay for all of us. If you have any concerns, please let me know and we can discuss.

Even if changing the venue isn't an option, there are ways to reduce the emphasis on alcohol, e.g.:

• No free bar tab. Covering food and soft drinks but not booze helps reduce the pressure on people to drink alcohol and gives an easy excuse for non-drinkers.
• No "shouts" (events where people are expected to buy rounds for one another).
• Focus on non-alcoholic options for team bonding, e.g. icebreaker games rather than just getting hammered together.
• Move on to a non-alcoholic event/location after the meal.

Even just discussing this issue with management and your team can be helpful. The discussion can be a reminder to drinkers to be respectful of non-drinkers' choices, and it shows the non-drinkers that their choices are recognised and supported.

Noting that this is a topic where workplace culture varies hugely from industry to industry, all the way from totally dry events to near-mandatory heavy drinking, so it's hard to give a universal answer, but that's how I'd approach it.

Personal experience: I'm not a teetotaller but I don't drink much and I really don't like being pressured to drink, something that has occasionally happened at work events.

Some years back, my then-team was voting on options for a social event. The winning option was a winery tour, but our boss noticed that several people had put this as their least preferred option. So before locking that choice in, he emailed us all to check whether anybody had problems with that venue, with the implication that if it was a deal-breaker we'd do something else. My script above is similar to what he sent us.

For me, the fact that he stopped to ask made a big difference to my comfort. It meant that I could go to the winery knowing that I wasn't going to be hassled about not drinking.

FWIW, Ask A Manager has a lot of discussion about alcohol at work events. I didn't find one that addresses your question directly, but that more general discussion might still be useful for ideas on how to negotiate this kind of thing, and on some potential problems to watch out for.