Drug Free Workplace Program
Whether your business is operational, financial, technical, or sales, there are risks involved in choosing to hire employees to represent your business. Hiring a substance abuser will affect numerous costs to your company in terms of health care utilization costs, absenteeism, losses due to theft, and accidents. The risks, costs, and benefits will differ with every organization.
The implementation of a drug-free workplace is often a deterrent for applicants who are afraid to apply elsewhere because of other employers’ use of pre-employment testing.
The benefits of a drug-free workplace program far outnumber a workplace without such program.
- Decreases in absenteeism, accidents, downtime, turnover, and theft
- Increases in productivity; and overall improved morale
- Decreased premium costs for certain kinds of insurance, such as Workers' Compensation (please contact your local division or State's attorney general)
- Cost savings and incentive programs offered by Medical and health insurance carriers
- Decreased legal costs and cost of hiring and training new employees
- Property, casualty, and liability insurance carriers
- Fewer accidents
- Fewer disciplinary actions
- Earlier identification and resolution of problems affecting job performance
- Greater employee awareness about alcohol and other drug abuse as well as other health issues
You ask yourself if a drug-free workplace program is for your business. Remember business opportunities may be lost as a result of an employee does not show up for work or is not fully productive. There are major costs in the time spent by coworkers, supervisors and administrators who must find ways to get the work done when an employee is not pulling his or her weight.
You may believe that there may be more cases of alcohol and other drug abuse in larger firms that smaller ones, but a single troubled employee can have a major impact on a smaller firm.