How does drug and alcohol abuse affect your business? Your employees may not feel their best or function at their highest capacity. Communication can break down between listless and distracted workers. People in an altered mental state can be careless with safety precautions. A firm and unambiguous drug and alcohol policy can be a boon to your workplace and its productivity. Be clear about your attitude toward substance abuse at your company. Meanwhile, read up on the costs of substance abuse in the workplace. Your firm stance against drug and alcohol use can boost your employees’ productivity and save your company massive amounts of money.
Lowered and Lost Productivity
An employee who is drunk or high on the job won’t be nearly as productive as their sober counterpart. Depending on the nature of the substance, they could be lethargic and unresponsive or chattery and scatterbrained. Either way, they’re not focused on the task at hand and they’re going to take longer to complete it. It’s called presenteeism—sure, the employee showed up, but they’re not doing their job. They might as well have stayed home.
A person dependent on or addicted to illicit substances has one main priority: their substance of choice. If an employee is struggling deeply with addiction, they’ll be distracted by their withdrawal symptoms or wondering when they’re going to get their next fix. Work tasks don’t seem so important when measured against substance use.
Absenteeism and Use of Sick Time
Sometimes, employees show up tardy—or don’t show up at all—due to their substance abuse. And in their absence, you’ve got to reassign their work to other employees. That’s not fair to your sober employees, and the work will take longer if fewer people are working on it. Lost productivity costs really add up when you’re struggling to meet quotas and deadlines.
In addition, folks battling a nasty hangover or withdrawal symptoms may simply call out of work and use their sick time. That’s their prerogative—they’ve accrued that sick time, after all—but it’s still one less employee you’ve got for the day. While using sick time is certainly a more polite option than a no-call/no-show, you still struggle with being short-staffed. You end up paying that employee to stay home to nurse the consequences of their substance abuse. Combat that absenteeism and encourage sobriety in the workplace by adding regular testing to your workplace’s drug and alcohol policy. An alcohol testing kit is a handy way of divining whether your employee has consumed alcohol on any particular workday. If you notice consistent behavioral issues with a particular staff member, like slurred speech or daytime drowsiness, a quick alcohol test can give you answers.
Higher Healthcare Costs
Addiction is a disease, and you should treat it as such. Your employee is entitled to use their employer-provided health insurance to seek treatment for their addiction. But rehab is expensive. Detoxing in the hospital is expensive. Healthcare costs for people with addiction issues are estimated to be twice as high as those for employees without substance abuse concerns.
Let’s not forget about workplace accidents, either. Employees who are under the influence while on the clock pose a higher safety risk than their sober counterparts. A person who operates a forklift while drunk, for example, is a moving hazard. When people are injured (or even killed) as a result of workplace accidents caused by substance abuse, their healthcare costs will also sap money from your company. Worker’s compensation claims drain your coffers more quickly than you might think.
Employee Turnover
Depending on your workplace’s drug and alcohol policy, an employee who’s proven to be drunk or high on the job may be terminated on the spot. That termination is your prerogative as an employer, and it could be a wake-up call for the employee in question—but now, you’ve got to hire their replacement.
Even if the employee isn’t terminated, a six-week rehab stay still means one less staff member in the office. Hiring and onboarding new or replacement employees costs both time and money. The time you take to onboard and train a new person at the office cuts into your productivity. Plus, for those first couple of weeks, you’re paying your new employee to learn and practice, not to complete actual work tasks.
If you notice that substance abuse is a problem with multiple employees, you’re looking at a higher turnover rate. The more employees you terminate or nudge into rehab due to their addiction, the more replacements you’ve got to interview, hire, and onboard. That’s a huge financial cost to your company, and it takes up time you could be using to grow your business instead of tread water.
Theft and Violence Concerns
It’s not a nice subject to talk about, but when a person with an addiction can’t afford their substance of choice, they may supplement their income by stealing. Regular substance abuse can encourage risk-taking behavior in the afflicted person, and workplace theft is certainly risky. That theft can range from petty larceny to grand theft, depending on the cost and number of items taken. If your employee can’t return the stolen items, replacing them can be expensive and a real pain.
Risky behavior and the additional emotional liability brought on by drug use are also a recipe for violent confrontations. A normally quiet and meek employee who’s suddenly getting in their coworkers’ faces and making threats could be dealing with addiction. Do what you can to take action before a violent encounter occurs. An employee who’s been assaulted at work racks up healthcare and liability costs.
The true costs of drug and alcohol abuse in the workplace are social, emotional, and financial. Keep your employees alert and focused by mandating sobriety in the workplace. Have a few of American Screening Corporation's drug and alcohol testing kits on hand in case you have a reasonable suspicion of impairment at work. Consider the costs of substance abuse in the workplace as you write and enforce your policy, and always let your employees know that their health and well-being are your priority.
