Substance abuse, also known as drug abuse is defined as consumption of psychedelic substances that are harmful to the health of the consumer or others. Consumption of psychedelic substances can cause dependence syndrome which is a collection of cognitive, behavioral and psychological issues that develop on persons who are involved in drug abuse repeatedly. The depended syndrome is characterized by persistence in substance use regardless of its hazardous effects, unstoppable urge to use drugs, inability to control the amounts of drugs one consumes, withdrawing from other people, neglecting duties and responsibilities, and high resistance. Health issues connected to drug abuse can be reduced by policies that regulate the amount of substance use. For instance, a drug-free workplace policy helps in dealing with drug abuse issues at work as well as maintain the objectives of an institution. This essay will focus on drug abuse in the workplace.
Today, drug abuse in corporations is a major concern in the United States. Research has it that approximately seventy-three percent of both part-time and full-time employees are substance users. This implies that American corporations lose billions of money every year to staffing and production costs. Alcohol and other illicit drugs are most used substances. Substance abuse by employees has enormous hazardous impacts at a workplace ( Geldenhuys, 2015). Employees involved in drug abuse are likely to record more absenteeism, report to work late, and are more vulnerable to injuries at work. Whenever such employees are involved in workplace injuries, they record a compensation claim which costs the institution. Employees involved in drug abuse cost the institutions they work for in terms of productivity and morality. This leads to low quality of the products. A report by Labor department in the United States shows that approximately five hundred million days of work are lost through the increased use of alcohol. Theft at the workplace is also another issue associated with drug abuse. Employees that use cocaine, caffeine, and other illicit drugs are more likely to steal from their fellow employees and employers in order to meet their daily urge to use drugs.
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The effects of substance use in the workplace lead to the increased amount used by the institution for compensation in case of injuries, legal burden, and health care. since most employees are involved in drug abuse today, the management in every institution should be alert and be able to respond quickly to the issue. This is because the efficiency and performance of the employee are at stake. Drug users at the workplace are more vulnerable to accidents, injuries, and fatalities especially in the job description that involves the use of dangerous machines. This is due to poor judgment, impaired concentration, and other substance use effects.
Most drug users are addicts. An addiction makes workers be more occupied with the need to obtain and use drugs in the workplace. Addiction affects the concentration of the employee leading to low productivity at work ( Bryson & Silverstein, 2008). The desire for using drugs pushes some addicted employees to an extent of peddling drugs to other workers at work. Drug peddling is illegal, peddling drugs in an institution threatens the morality of an institution. Employees that use drugs are more likely to cause violence and harassment at the place of work. Other effects associated with drug abuse at work include sleeping during working hours, poor decision making, poor physical health, and reduced working motivation. As stated earlier, these impacts are directly connected to the productivity of an institution. While dealing with drug abuse in the workplace, companies incur additional costs in medical and rehabilitation programs, disciplinary procedures, training of new employees and paying for damages caused by drug-depended employees.
Drug abuse at the place of work can be linked to various social, organizational and personal factors ( Brown, Goske & Johnson, 2009). Some employees are exposed to some stressful situations at work leading to job dissatisfaction and conditions that make employees feel discriminated and isolated from other employees. Another factor is long working hours with recurrent duties and unreliable shifts. This leads to fatigue and employees choose to use drugs to overcome the feeling. When employees are not regularly supervised, they are likely to be bored and uncommitted to work. This gives room for them to access drugs. Other factors include lack of promotion opportunities, Stress, and high demand control. Some workers that are involved in drug peddling influence other workers to use drugs since they make them accessible.
Alcoholism and other illicit drug abuse is a very serious issue in companies. Its impacts can be devastating and frustrating. It is the responsibility of substance non-users and employers to help substance users to ensure that the productivity and morality of the company are maintained and also to improve the lives of the workers. This can be achieved by implementing drug-free policy, a testing program and empowering workers ( Miller, Zaloshnja & Spicer, 2007). Policies that define the company's acceptable and unacceptable behavior can be designed by both workers and employers.
According to Merrick, Volpe-Vartanian, Horgan, and McCann (2007), programs like Employee Assistant Program (EAP) established by employers help in empowering workers as well as link them to community services. Drug use issues are covered in the policy. Establishment of the policy is aimed at rendering help to substance users in a consistent and professional way. Moreover, company managers and supervisors should have a procedure in place that can be used in dealing with substance use issues. Employees should be handled equally to ensure that they do not feel discriminated and isolated. This assists in dealing with the stigma that pushes some employees to drug use. When the employees are not stigmatized, most addicted employees are able to speak out without fear.
Employers can prevent the impacts of drug abuse by being able to determine the problem and dealing with it in advance. Head of departments and supervisors should be able to perceive signs and symptoms of an employee using drugs. Most of the signs can be noticed by carrying out comparisons in the employees past and current performance. There are various substance abuse indicators which include the inability to meet datelines, impaired judgment, using a phone more often, increased absenteeism, taking more time in breaks, increased application of sick leaves and making mistakes more often. These are signs that supervisors should look out for to determine if employees are involved in drug use. After identifying drug users, employers should use the company policy to deal with the issue.
Drug use policy established in an organization should be designed by a collaboration of both workers and the management. According to Murphy (2013), the policy should consist of; meaning of drug abuse, use and effects associated with drug abuse, account of the persons covered by the policy, account of the workers to confidentiality, that education to empower workers will be offered, training will be offered to both workers and employers, summary of the substance use issues that will be covered, the circumstances at which drug testing would be carried out and, an outline of the disciplinary actions to be taken against drug users.
Conclusion
Drug abuse is a serious issue that should be dealt with to avoid its consequences. The aftereffects of drug use are expensive to deal with more especially when the drugs are used by workers. Companies and businesses are affected negatively. Absenteeism, low productivity, fatalities, low morale, theft, injuries, health care issues, compensation cost, and legal burden are some of the negative impacts of drug use on institutions. Some employees engage in alcoholism and other illicit drug use in order to evade a stressful situation. However, this brings more harm than good to the employee. Non-substance users and employers should help and provide support to drug users.
References
Brown, S. D., Goske, M. J., & Johnson, C. M. (2009). Beyond substance abuse: stress, burnout, and depression as causes of physician impairment and disruptive behavior. Journal of the American College of Radiology , 6 (7), 479-485.
Bryson, E. O., & Silverstein, J. H. (2008). Addiction and substance abuse in anesthesiology. Anesthesiology: The Journal of the American Society of Anesthesiologists , 109 (5), 905-917.
Geldenhuys, K. (2015). Substance abuse in the workplace. Servamus Community-based Safety and Security Magazine , 108 (6), 25-27.
Merrick, E. S. L., Volpe-Vartanian, J., Horgan, C. M., & McCann, B. (2007). Revisiting employee assistance programs and substance use problems in the workplace: key issues and a research agenda. Psychiatric services (Washington, DC) , 58 (10), 1262.
Miller, T. R., Zaloshnja, E., & Spicer, R. S. (2007). Effectiveness and benefit-cost of peer-based workplace substance abuse prevention coupled with random testing. Accident Analysis & Prevention , 39 (3), 565-573.
Murphy, K. R. (2013). Drug Abuse and Drug Testing in the Workplace. Psychology in Organizations: Integrating Science and Practice , 241.
