It’s a billion-dollar habit that US businesses just can’t kick: addiction.
The mathematics are indisputable. In almost any office in America, the chances are good that one or more of your fellow employees, or someone you supervise or hired, has a drug or drinking problem.
“It is absolutely a huge problem in the workplace,” says Dr. Elizabeth Drew, medical director of Summit Behavioral Health, a drug addiction treatment center with multiple locations, which is based in Doylestown, Pa.
That’s because some 14.8 million Americans are users of illicit drugs, and the majority of these people with drug problems are gainfully employed, according to the US Department of Labor.
Their drug or drinking problems, the government says, translate into an $80 billion annual loss to the economy.
The problems of alcoholism and drug use can affect a business in many ways.
“Alcohol and drug use among employees and their family members can be an expensive problem for business and industry, with issues ranging from lost productivity, absenteeism, injuries, fatalities and theft to low employee morale,” according to the New York-based National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD).
And these problems, it says, have secondary effects — higher health care, legal and workers’ compensation costs.
Drew says it can be easier for workers in some businesses to be hooked. These include those working in restaurants, who handle lots of cash and credit cards, and construction workers, who can be injured and end up addicted to painkillers.
According to the NCADD, a good way for employers to combat the problem is to establish Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs), which exist to encourage worker health.
Such programs also help those with a drug or drinking problem to receive confidential help.
“Without question, the establishment of an Employee Assistance Program is the most effective way to address alcohol and drug problems in the workplace,” according to the NCADD. “EAPs deal with all the kinds of problems and provide short-term counseling, assessment and referral of employees with alcohol and drug abuse problems, emotional and mental health problems, marital and family problems, financial problems, dependent care concerns and other personal problems that can affect the employee’s work.”
Drew endorses the EAP concept, though she concedes it may be difficult for some smaller employers to offer one.
Still, these programs are critical for workers because they help them take the first step: admitting that drugs are taking over their lives.
Because “people tend to be secretive and are often afraid to admit their problems,” Drew explains, nonjudgmental programs that acknowledge that drug abuse is a disease are best.
Drew contends that workplace drug treatment options make sense. Early treatment, she believes, is more effective and less costly than it would be years later, when the downward slope of addiction will have made the person unemployable.
Out of it on the job
According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence report “The Dangers of Drugs and Alcohol on the Job,” alcohol and drug use account for a disproportionate number of workplace accidents and deaths, costing industry billions in additional insurance and workers’ compensation charges.
- Workers with alcohol problems were 2.7 times more likely than workers without them to have injury-related absences.
- A hospital emergency department study showed that 35 percent of patients with an occupational injury were at-risk drinkers.
- Breathalyzer tests detected alcohol in 16 percent of emergency room patients injured at work.
- Analyses of workplace fatalities showed that at least 11 percent of the victims had been drinking.
- Major federal surveys show that 24 percent of workers report drinking during the workday at least once in the past year.
- Marijuana is the most commonly abused drug by employees, followed by cocaine, with prescription drug use steadily increasing.