Employers still soft on drink and drugs

News | HSW
27.11.2007

Two in five employers still have no policies for managing drugs and alcohol misuse at work, according to a new survey by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD). And many of those with policies fail to communicate them effectively or train staff properly to implement them.

The survey of around 500 organisations earlier this year found that only 60% of respondents' health and safety policies refer to alcohol and/or drug problems, while 59% have rules about possession of drugs and alcohol on the premises. A similar proportion have a combined policy for drug and alcohol problems.

Respondents with substance misuse policies identify health and safety as the main reason for introducing substance misuse policies, followed by employee health and concerns about deterioration in individual performance. Employers whose whole organisation is safety-critical are most likely to refer to drug/alcohol problems in their safety policy (almost 75%).

When asked about the effects of substance misuse at work, around 40% of employers say alcohol is a significant cause of absence and lost productivity, and one in three believes that drug misuse has a similar effect.
"Supporting employees with drug and alcohol problems has a high success rate, with many individuals returning to work," says the CIPD's employee relations adviser, Ben Willmott.

"But organisations must make employees aware of the policies and support in place otherwise they will not have the confidence to hold their hands up and acknowledge they have a problem and need help." The survey shows that less than a third of organisations train line managers and just a fifth train staff about drug and alcohol misuse at work.

The proportion of organisations testing employees has risen slightly, from 18% in 2001 to 22% in 2007, with a further 9% planning to introduce testing. Organisations in safety-critical sectors are most likely to test workers; 53% claim they already do so and 18% say they plan to in the future.

Most employers (eight in 10) treat alcohol and drug problems as a combined disciplinary and health issue. In the last two years, about half of respondents have disciplined employees for alcohol misuse and almost a third have dismissed people. For drugs, the figures are a quarter and 15% respectively.