Kitterlin, Moll and Moreno (2015) performed a study to examine substance abuse among workers in the foodservice industry and views related to prevention methods in the workplace. The study demonstrates a growing problem of substance abuse in the workplace. For instance, Kitterlin et al. (2015) found that substance abuse among workers poses a serious issue for the workplace. Workers who abuse drugs were found to experience injuries or accident 3.6 times more than other workers. Substance abuse among workers was also found to affect employee judgment and capacity to perform roles such as proper sanitation correctly. Based on the views of workers, workplaces lacked substance abuse prevention methods or did not enforce existing substance abuse prevention policies. The study suggests that workers are unaware of policies to prevent substance abuse at their workplaces or organizations are negligent and fail to enforce existing policies. The study recommends that managers and workers can apply different precautionary measures to address the issue of substance abuse in the workplace. Examples of these measures include developing and practicing an organizational culture that prohibits illegal drug use, complying with termination and hiring regulations that ban illegal drug use in the workplace, carrying out random drug tests in the workplace, and implementing assistance programs for workers addicted to substance use. Another area that must be improved concerns the support that organizations offer to their employees given that substance prevention methods are non-existent or not enforced in organizations.
The prevalence of substance use among workers is indeed high, which is a concern for organizations as the study demonstrates. The study by Kitterlin et al. (2015), nevertheless, does not indicate the effects of illegal drug use by workers in organizations, especially concerning the productivity of workers Others studies have found that substance use by workers cause numerous issues for organizations such as reduced productivity, and increased health insurance claims (Lambrechts, Vandersmissen & Godderis, 2019). Factors such as organizational culture and acceptance of substance use, availability of drugs, and presence and implementation of substance abuse policies in the workplace have also been found to contribute to the issue of illegal drug use or lack of use in organizations. Another vital aspect when examining illegal drug use among workers in organizations is to differentiate between substance use on the job and off-the-job to precisely evaluate the association between illegal substance use and its effect on job performance. Drug use on the job affects performance more than off-job usage.
Delegate your assignment to our experts and they will do the rest.
It is therefore vital to consider that some workers use illegal drugs in moderation outside of the workplace. Organizations should acknowledge that most workers engage in moderate illegal substance use when out of work. Most of the users lead normal and productive lives without depending on drugs, engaging in damaging behaviors, or interfering with their productivity at work. While many workers use drugs moderately without losing control, substance use tends to increase with time in which users increase the dosage. The initial use of a less serious substance such as marijuana may lead to the use of serious substances such as cocaine. Infrequent use may lead to protracted use and possible addiction. Moderate users can, therefore, present a significant health and safety risk in the workplace. Organizations should act proactively to prevent the issue of drug abuse in the workplace through various techniques. For instance, they can adopt and implement organizational-wide anti-substance abuse policies and perform a comprehensive substance abuse education and awareness programs targeting workers. Worker assistance and rehabilitation programs should also be implemented early to help workers in extreme cases when drug abuse becomes a severe issue for some workers. Drug testing is also another technique that can be used to prevent drug abuse.
References
Kitterlin, M., Moll, L., & Moreno, G. (2015). Foodservice Employee Substance Abuse: is Anyone Getting the Message?. International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management , 27 (5), 810-826.
Lambrechts, M. C., Vandersmissen, L., & Godderis, L. (2019). Alcohol and other Drug Use among Belgian Workers and Job-related Consequences. Occupational and environmental medicine , 76 (9), 652-659.
