Creating A Drug/alcohol-free Environment At The Workplace

By Author: Nate Rodney
Total Articles: 499
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Substance abuse is one of the most widely prevalent issues among members of workforce. Employers should see to it that they monitor it as a norm of their human resource management; else, it might result in devastating consequences to the employee as well as the employer. It is for this reason that maintaining a drug/alcohol free environment at workplace makes pragmatic sense.

Why is it so important?
Employers are obliged under law to ensure a workplace free from influence of illicit drugs/alcohol. A drug free work-environment can improve the profitability of the organization remarkably, as it greatly affects the important aspects of a work environment like safety, productivity and morale and rapport among the employees.

•Safety: Substance abuse leads to compromise of safety norms at workplace. As the employee gets addicted to drug/alcohol, the person starts to overlook the safety norms while at work. Consequently, the safety of the other members is also affected. This is because the addict is unable to concentrate and loses his judgment skills. These factors increase the risk of accidents ...
... and casualties.

•Productivity: Drug abuse causes ill health among the workers. There are more leaves apparently for unexplainable reasons. The addict seems malnourished because of decrease in appetite and is less able to work hard. The individual worker's productivity thus declines. This decrease in productivity of workforce ultimately affects the profitability of an enterprise.

•Morale and rapport: Even if a minority of workforce is affected by substances, it will have its influence among all the other members, thus, negatively impacting the employee-employee and employee-employer relationships. Morale of workforce gets affected when a fellow member suffers from ailments, becomes a liability to the enterprise or gets fired. Work-environment, free from influence of substance, would keep everyone's attitude and morale positive. It would create good rapport among the workers' community and employers.

Advantages of drug/alcohol-free workplace:
For any organization, healthy workforce free from any illicit substance abuse would have less liabilities and negative consequences. Such environment is beneficial to the company in many ways:

•Saves money by enabling preventive measures: Employers can save substantially by enforcing a suitable work code which should have provisions with respect to use of illicit substances. It would protect employer against loss of man hours because of an ailment resulting from influence of drugs. Likewise, it reduces the employee absenteeism due to ill health.

•Less probability of accidents: Drug free environment would have less number of accidents. Industries dealing with safety critical jobs involving operation of heavy machinery, toxic chemicals, and other dangerous/hazardous activities are more prone to accidents due to employee drug abuse. Ensuring that workforce does not fall prey to influence of drugs/alcohol is important for such industries.

•More employee productivity: Productive labor is an important asset for employers. Healthy employees are on time to work. They adhere to the norms of the organization. They are attentive and have good judgmental skills that will help him do quality work.

•Better work-culture: A drug free work environment ensures better work culture, as there are high chances of having employees who have proper conduct. Having healthy and problem-free employees at workplace has positive influence on the work environment.

Role of the employer:
Employer's role is significant in the context of establishing drug/alcohol free work environment. He should consider the following measures:

•Precautions like pre-employment screening: It is always better to stop the drug abusing candidates before they enter the organization. Precautions like pre-employment screening, conducted while recruiting the candidate, would go long way in ensuring workplace free from illicit drug influence.

•Random/regular screening: You need to conduct regular drug testing programs at workplace. However, the issue in this case is employees know the date of test and may, thus, use some detoxification methods to pass the test. Random drug testing is one of the best methods to reduce drug abusing menace at workplace. Random drug tests are generally conducted on randomly picked employees without any prior intimation.

•Enforcement of laws on abuse at workplace: Every state has its laws on abuse at workplace. Employers should comply with them and formulate an employee code of conduct for the purpose. Employees at all levels should also be familiar with the provisions of the code of conduct and make sure that they are implemented effectively.

•Educate employees on abuse: As a responsible employer, you should educate your employees regarding the harmful consequences of drug abuse. Urge them to avoid drugs/alcohol at workplace. Disseminate information among employees in the form of IOMs, hand-outs, at informal gatherings, etc. If possible, conduct sermons on the issue by eminent personalities from the society to boost employee morale.

•Let alcohol/drug-free workplace policy of the company be known to employees: The policy to ensure alcohol/drug-free workplace should be known to all employees. They should be also aware of the consequences of going against the policy in terms of termination of employment or forfeiture of benefits or any other as per the company rules. Notify that the intent of the policy is to ensure safety, good health, and well-being of employees.

Creating a workplace free from drug/alcohol influence would help improve employee safety, productivity and enable good work culture. In the long run, it would lead to improved profitability of your business.

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