Managing drug and alcohol misuse at work

Ben Willmott

Head of Public Policy

CIPD

How big is the problem?

• About half of employers had disciplined employees for alcohol misuse at work and about a quarter had disciplined individuals for drug misuse in the previous two years.

• Almost a third of organisations had dismissed employees in the previous two years where the reason or a significant underlying reason was alcohol problems. And 15% have dismissed members of staff where the reason, or a significant underlying reason, was drugs.

The business case for managing drug and alcohol misuse

Top three reasons why organisations

introduce policies to help manage drug and

alcohol misuse at work: • to promote safety at work; • to support employee health and wellbeing; • in response to concerns over

poor/deteriorating employee performance.

Developing a policy

• Just under 60% of organisations have rules in place about the possession of drugs and alcohol on the premises.

• A similar proportion have a combined policy for drug and alcohol problems and rules about alcohol consumption during work time.

• More than a quarter of employers use a capability procedure as part of their approach to managing drug and alcohol problems in the workplace.

Communication of policies and procedures• The most common method of communicating

policies on drug and alcohol misuse is through the staff handbook, with two-thirds of respondent organisations providing information in this way.

• Under half of organisations use their intranet to communicate policies on drug and alcohol misuse.

• Only 33% of employers train managers as part of their efforts to communicate policies on drug and alcohol misuse at work. Just 22% train employees generally in the organisation’s policies, procedures and approach to tackling the issue.

Testing for drug and alcohol misuse at work

• In all, 22% of respondent organisations carry out any testing of employees for drugs or alcohol misuse (18% in 2001)

• A further 9% of organisations are planning to introduce testing for the use of drugs and/or alcohol at work.

• In all, 65% of employers don’t test and have no plans to start. • The majority of testing for drug and alcohol misuse is carried

out by safety-critical organisations - 53% of safety-critical organisations carry out testing of employees for drugs or alcohol and a further 18% are planning to introduce this approach.

Types of testing

• Among organisations that test employees for drug or alcohol misuse at work, the most common approach is to test when an employee is suspected of drug or alcohol misuse as a result of performance issues or because of inappropriate behaviour.

• More than a fifth of employers that test use this approach for either suspected alcohol misuse or drug misuse.

• Random testing for drugs or alcohol is rare, with only about one in ten of employers that test using this approach.

Developing a policy -key points

• People and culture audit • Consult• Communicate• Train -senior managers, line managers, OH staff

union/staff representatives• Monitor and review

Providing support/taking disciplinary action

• By far the most common approach to managing alcohol and drug problems at work adopted by employers is to treat it as a combined disciplinary and health issue. About eight in ten employers use this approach.

• Just 11% of employer treat drug misuse as mainly a disciplinary issue while 8% treat alcohol misuse in the same way

• Little difference between the sectors

Managing employees with drug and/or alcohol problems

• The three most common management interventions to help employees with drug and/or alcohol problems are:

• the provision of specialist counselling services (about 50%)

• the use of disciplinary procedures (45%)• referral to occupational health practitioners (39%)

Preventing employees from developing drug and alcohol problems The most common interventions to help prevent

employees developing drug or alcohol problems are:

• the provision of occupational health services

• flexible working opportunities

• access to counselling services.

Providing support and taking disciplinary action – key points

• Confidentiality • Training managers in people management skills

and disciplinary procedures• Access to OH advice/support• Performance issues – conduct and capability • Treatment considerations/external support• Return to work support• Relapses

Referral for specialist treatment and rehabilitation

• A third of employers have referred employees with alcohol problems for specialist treatment and rehabilitation in the last two years, with 12% having done so for drug problems.

• Out of those employees that organisations have referred to treatment or supported through rehabilitation, just over 60% remained working for the organisation after successfully managing their problem.