As an employer, you know the many negative consequences substance abuse can bring to your workplace. For one, it can affect an employee’s judgment, perception, alertness and emotional state, and it can ruin the objective of making your workplace safe and productive.
It’s not strange for an employer like you to strive to make your company a safe place not only for your employees but your customers and visitors as well. You see drug and alcohol abuse as a serious threat to your business. As such, it would be practical for you to prohibit the use, sale or mere possession of prohibited drugs and alcoholic beverages in the workplace.
To make it possible, you need to set up a drug-free workplace program that begins during the hiring process. You may wish to work with an experienced provider of comprehensive drug testing services to simplify implementation and compliance with your program.
It isn’t just the safety risks that should prompt you to establish the program because there are other compelling reasons:
1. The health and safety of your employees are of paramount importance. Any employee working under the influence is risking injury to themselves or others.
Substance abuse and unhealthy lifestyle choices can negatively impact your business’ medical and insurance costs.
The negative impact of substance abuse on your employee’s life will certainly flow over into your workplace. This can translate into reduced productivity, absenteeism and damaged working relationships.
2. Addiction to prohibited drugs and alcohol doesn’t only deteriorate employee performance, it can also lead people to act irresponsibly. irrationally or in desperate ways such as theft etc. within your organization.
3. Your sober, non-abusing employees deserve your support. Implementing a comprehensive drug-free workplace program is a strong message to your employees that substance abuse is strictly prohibited within your workplace.
Components of a Comprehensive Drug-Free Workplace Program
An effective drug-free workplace program is a plan of action wherein employees on all levels of the organization follow policies that are designed to establish a work environment where the use of alcohol and illegal drugs are prohibited. A consistent drug-free workplace program may be essential for the success of your business and for your workers to live a safe and healthy working life. Here are the important elements that constitute a comprehensive drug-free workplace program:
- Full support and active participation and leadership of managers, supervisors, and company leaders
- Publicized written policies and procedures that are applied uniformly on all levels of your organization
- Training for managers, human resources staff, supervisors and union officers about their roles and responsibilities in maintaining a drug-free workplace
- Involvement of employees from different levels of the organization in the development of the company’s drug-free policies
- Awareness campaign for employees about the dangers of drug and alcohol abuse
- Assistance to employees who admit having problems with prohibited substances
- Access to treatment for substance abuse and monitoring of employees who are identified as users of prohibited substances
- Clearly stated disciplinary action policies to employees who violate the company’s drug-free program
- Methods to identify employees who may be using prohibited substances such as drug testing, etc. These are intended to provide employees with drug abuse problems the opportunity to obtain treatment.
Benefits of an Effective Workplace Drug-Free Policy
It stands to reason that a company manned by sober employees will perform better in terms of safety, productivity and profitability than one with drug or alchohol abuse issues in its ranks. With the help of a reliable provider of alcohol and drug testing service, you’ll be able to establish a drug-free workplace and instill these benefits for your business:
Improved Productivity
A drug-free workplace fosters punctuality, focus, alertness, presence of mind, and awareness of work instructions and procedures. It certainly creates a productive workplace. In contrast, alcohol and drug abuse is a major cause of lost productivity. As a matter of fact, companies in the U.S. lose approximately $100 billion a year due to drug abuse, according to the National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information (NCADI).
A Safer Workplace
A person’s sense of safety is certainly higher in a drug-free workplace where people work sober and are healthier than one that’s not. A safe workplace translates to fewer accidents.
The use of drugs or alcohol can impair an employee’s judgment, emotional responses and reaction times. It can expose that same employee, his workmates, your clients and other people to safety risks and make your company susceptible to legal liabilities.
Higher Quality of Employees
To ensure the quality of your hires, you should likely start your drug-free workplace program during the hiring process. A comprehensive drug testing service will help you identify and screen out drug-using job candidates before they become problem employees. It is an important step towards the selection and on-boarding of quality employees especially in safety sensitive positions.
As an employer, comprehensive drug testing is a big first step towards achieving a safe, drug-free, productive and respectable workplace. It’s a great goal and you can make it happen with our help. We are a trusted provider of alcohol and drug testing services, and we will work for your success and to earn your trust.
