Helping Employees Combat Substance Abuse

By Jill Gonzalez

Drug and alcohol screenings are essential in the workplace for many different reasons. By screening employees on a regular basis, employers are able to identify substance abusers early so that intervention services can be provided or to recommend treatment to those employees who have a drug or alcohol addiction.

By offering to help employees obtain treatment and counseling for their addictions, employers are providing a service that helps not only the company, but their employees as well.

Dangers of Impaired Employees

Studies have shown that there are approximately 15 million people in the United States that hold full-time jobs and who also qualify as being alcohol dependent. In addition, there are approximately 16.4 million workers who regularly use illegal drugs.

These statistics show that drug and alcohol abuse among working adults is a growing problem. While there are some people who think that full-time workers do not have the time to develop drug or alcohol problems, the fact of the matter is that a very large number of these individuals are heading to work under the influence.

Workers who have problems abusing drugs or alcohol not only pose great risks to their own health and productivity, they also pose a tremendous risk to others who work around them. As a general rule, these employees are in poor health, miss work on a regular basis and are much more likely to injure themselves while on the job. In fact, among workers with substance abuse problems, injuries tend to occur regardless of a person’s job responsibilities.

Offering Help for Employees

Because substance abuse is a serious issue for employees and employers, many companies have implemented policies that are designed to help employees who have substance abuse problems. These programs vary among companies simply because there is no single type of program that is best for all types of business entities.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, there are five basic components that should make up an effective substance abuse program for places of business:

A company policy statement in writing. This should be written in plain language so that everyone can clearly understand exactly what the company’s guidelines and expectations are.
Employee awareness and education.
Employee assistance for those who need help with a substance abuse issue.
Supervisor training.
Alcohol and drug testing. For many companies, this includes pre-employment testing as well as random testing throughout the year. In addition, most companies have a policy of testing employees for drugs or alcohol if they are involved in an accident while at work.

Some larger companies establish their own Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) that provide free, confidential counseling to employees who need it for discussing personal or professional problems. EAPs that are “company owned” can either be in-house or contracted services that are obtained through professional counseling firms.

By offering counseling services free of charge to employees, companies stand a much greater chance of taking care of potential problems before they mushroom into something that is out of control. In order to make sure that employees are aware of this benefit and that they understand how to take advantage of it, it is essential that companies implement a comprehensive training program that educates workers about the guidelines.

In some instances, the fact that a company has a substance abuse policy is enough of a deterrent to keep workers from abusing drugs or alcohol. In states where drug testing is not legal, or in states where the laws aren’t extremely strict, a better alternative is to create a very strong company policy regarding substance abuse. If employees know up front that there will be severe disciplinary ramifications for drug or alcohol infractions, this will also be a good deterrent for them.

Before any company designs and implements a substance abuse policy, it is recommended that they research the laws in their state to find out exactly what is and is not allowed. If your company is in a state where it is illegal to test workers for drugs or alcohol, then you would actually find yourself in violation of the law should you send an employee that you suspect of being under the influence for a drug test. To protect your business, and other workers, from someone that you believe to be under the influence, simply suspend that person temporarily until you can obtain legal advice regarding how best to handle the situation.

Treatment Center

Helping Employees Combat Substance Abuse