Human Resources: Drug Use: Sobering Facts

Nearly 14 million Americans currently use illicit drugs, and American businesses employ nearly three-quarters of those users. The excessive and illicit use of drugs and alcohol is having a profoundly negative effect on workplaces around the country in terms of decreased productivity and increased accidents, absenteeism, turnover, and medical costs.

The cause
According to the U.S. Department of Labor:

more than six percent of the population over 12 years of age has used drugs within the past month;

73 percent of all current drug users were employed in 1997;

more than 14 percent of workers report heavy drinking, which is defined as five or more drinks on five or more days in the past month;

construction workers (15.6%), sales personnel (11.4%), food preparation, wait staff, and bartenders (11.2%), handlers, helpers, and laborers (10.6%), and machine operators and inspectors (10.5%) reported the highest rates of current illicit drug use; and

more than 60 percent of adults know people who have gone to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol.

The effect
Full-time workers who reported current illicit drug use were more likely than others to report that they had worked for three or more employers in the past year (32.1% versus 17.9%), taken an unexcused absence from work in the past month (12.1% versus 6.1%), voluntarily left an employer in the past year (25.8% versus 13.6%), and been fired by an employer in the past year (4.6% versus 1.4%).

In addition, drug users are more than twice as likely as others to request early dismissal or time off, 2.5 times more likely to incur absences of eight days or more, three times more likely to be late for work, 3.6 times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident, and five times more likely to file a workers'' compensation claim.

Similarly, employees who tested positive on their pre-employment drug test were 77 percent more likely than others to be fired within the first three years of employment and were absent from work 66 percent more often than those who tested negative. Finally, alcoholism causes 500 million lost workdays each year for American businesses.

What can you do?
Don''t underestimate the impact that you as a human resources manager can have over an individual''s lifestyle choices that result in excessive and/or illicit substance use.

At a minimum, you can:

provide information about the dangers of alcohol and other drugs and how they can affect individuals, families, and careers;

describe the impact substance abuse can have on safety at work as well as the company''s productivity, product quality, absenteeism, health care costs, accident rates, and overall bottom line;

stress how your workplace policies (such as drug testing and attendance) apply to every employee, and explain the consequences for violating the policies; and

explain how employees and their dependents, if included, can receive help for their substance abuse problems by access to the company''s insurance plan or the employee assistance program or from services available from the community.

Finally, when your efforts to aid a wayward employee just don''t seem to help, a harsh "get tough" approach might be the best tonic for both the individual and your company.

Copyright 2001 M. Lee Smith Publishers. This newsletter does not attempt to offer solutions to individual problems but rather to provide information about current developments in employment law. Questions about individual problems should be addressed to the employment law attorney of your choice.