Establishing a drug-free workplace and implementing a management practice can help your company to find and hold onto the proper type of work ethic, employees, morale, and offer the standard of customer service you find necessary. A drug-free workplace can reduce accidents, employee liability, customer-related accidents, and prevent damage to the reputation of your company.
This is the reason why employee training courses are crucial so that everyone in your workplace should understand what is expected of them. There are various reasons why it makes sense to have a drug-free workplace. This page discusses the benefits of a drug-free workplace.
The problems drugs abuse can cause
Some studies have revealed that at least 70 percent of drug abusers in the United States have steady jobs. Most people who use drugs tend to be quite good when it comes to covering their tracks, making it hard to spot them. But it’s important for companies to know what they need to look for because these staff members can cause devastating effects that can lead your business to lose profits. This is why you need to do random workplace drug testing, though you should always look out for some common red flags.
If you pay close attention, it can be easy to identify your employees who are drug abusers. There are various signs that your worker can exhibit, so you need to check them. This includes increased absences or lateness, inconsistent work performance, overreaction to suggestions or feedback, unsteady posture, causing accidents, withdrawal from daily conversations, sudden mood swings after returning from breaks or lunch, and lack of sleep.
Keep note that having a worker who abuses drugs may drag down the growth of your business. Statistics related to substance abuse in the workplaces has indicated that addicts have higher chances of asking for workers’ compensation at some point. The same statistics also show that addicts are 40 percent involved in all industrial on-the-job fatalities and cost the company more money on health care expenses than an average worker. Worse still, drug abusers tend to miss a lot of workdays and are less productive than an average employee.
Therefore, if you see any of these signs in any of your employees, then you can conduct a reasonable suspicion drug test. It’s a good idea to take a look at your workplace drug testing policy, though you should also talk to your employee about their performance as well as the drug testing that may be administered. You need to document everything in this discussion and any reported situation that led to the suspicion must also be recorded.
A written workplace drug policy
It’s crucial to have a written workplace drug policy. This policy needs to be supportive instead of threatening. Also, it should state the policy of your company on workplace drug testing, the consequences of testing positive for drugs, and the type of help the company gives for drug users.
It’s necessary to have a drug-free workplace so that your workers can comply with the program and associated activities and policies that are designed to provide a safe work environment, prevent alcohol or drug use, and encourage treatment of employees who suffer from drug abuse. Remember that a drug-free workplace program aims at educating workers on the issues related to substance abuse, such as the negative effects that can affect the health, career, and home life of a person.
As explained earlier, most of the people who suffer from illicit drug abuse usually have full or part-time jobs. Therefore, they don’t separate their drug use from their work as drug abuse can usually spread across each aspect of an individual’s life. As an employer, there is a chance that one or more of your workers may be abusing prescription drugs or taking illegal drugs. The best way you can assist to prevent drug use from affecting your company is to have a drug-free workplace program.
A drug-free workplace program doesn’t mean that you are blaming or suspecting any of your workers of using drugs, but it’s an effective way you can prevent drug-related consequences from happening. Some of the consequences include decreased profits, high medical claim costs, accidents, decreased productivity, and a bad environment for your workers. A drug-free workplace environment can benefit you and your employees because you can have a safe and productive working environment.
You can find many companies out there that work with businesses to assist in establishing a drug-free workplace program. Components of a good program usually include a written policy, supervisor training, employee alcohol and drug education, and random drug testing. Take note that the drug-free workplace program was designed and even promoted by state, national, and local organizations of business owners who desired to create drug-free working environments, a known standard for employees.
There are some unions that also adopted this concept and employed drug testing to make sure that their members helped to contribute to drug-free environments. A written policy helps to make sure that workers are educated when it comes to their rights and responsibilities in the drug-free workplace program. This includes the right to treatment for all workers. Drug testing needs to be conducted randomly so that the employees are accountable for remaining drug-free.
This also makes sure that employees cannot prepare for drug tests by quitting drug use when they know that they are going for screening only to resume afterward. And, comprehensive DOT-compliant alcohol and drug testing is effective at making sure that there is a drug-free workplace. This is especially true for workplaces where workers are supposed to handle heavy vehicles and equipment. In other words, safety-sensitive jobs require employees to be drug tested.
You can protect your business, employees, and customers by having a drug-free workplace. But you need to hold every person to the same standards, meaning each employee can be drug tested regardless of their position in your company. When you do this, everyone can benefit and the number of accidents can reduce, your profits may increase, and productivity increases. Above all, the reputation of your company can improve because customers usually like to deal with businesses that offer drug-free workplaces.