Substance Abuse

Substance abuse in the workplace is a subject of concern to many small business owners, to one degree or another. Oftentimes the issue is a sensitive one to confront, but business owners and researchers alike agree that if left unchecked, substance abuse has the capacity to cripple or destroy a company.

IMPACT IN THE WORKPLACE

Substance abuse is a hard problem to eradicate in any business setting, but it can be particularly difficult to address in small business settings. After all, many small business owners develop close—or at least friendly—relationships with their employees because they often work together on projects and share smaller work areas. "Because many small business owners have one-on-one relationships with each employee, dealing with an employee who is addicted to alcohol or drugs is a personal as well as a personnel problem," wrote Barbara Mooney in Crain's Cleveland Business.

But substance abuse experts and business researchers alike warn that substance abuse problems are not the sort of problems that tend to go away by themselves. Rather, they often continue to grow and fester, further strangulating the business's productivity and profitability. Indeed, substance abuse often ends up being a tremendous drain on a company's fiscal well-being. This drain takes many forms, including decreased productivity, increased absences, rising numbers of accidents, use of sick leave, and jumps in workers' compensation claims. Indeed, HR Focus reported in 1997 that "alcohol and drug abusers are absent from work two-and-a-half times more frequently than nonusers; they use three times the amount of sick leave as nonusers; their worker's compensation claims are five times higher; and they are generally less productive." This latter factor—what HR Focus termed "the less dramatic, day-to-day financial losses that accrue in a company when its workers are impaired and performing below potential"—can be particularly deadly to a business precisely because its impact is so hard to detect and quantify. Finally, substance abusers often compromise the efficiency of other workers within the business. Co-workers are often hampered by the substandard work of the abuser, and in many cases their effectiveness may be further curtailed by a sense of obligation to cover for their co-workers—who, after all, are often their friends as well.

Substance abuse problems also open companies up to greater legal liability. According to Occupational Medicine, Studies indicate that 1) alcohol and drug abusers are two to four times as likely to have an accident as people who do not use drugs and alcohol, and 2) substance abusers can be linked to approximately 40 percent of American industrial fatalities. Moreover, business consultant Tim Plant indicated to HR Focus that drug- or alcohol-addled employees can also wreak harm on people and places outside the company: "When drivers come to work under the influence of drugs or alcohol," he said, "accidents could happen, causing the disruption of deliveries or other activities. Vehicles could be damaged; people could be hurt or killed. These have an immediate impact on the bottom line for a small- or medium-sized company."

Finally, in situations where a partner or owner of the business is the one with the substance abuse problem, the very life of the company is often jeopardized. Such people obviously wield a tremendous amount of influence over a company, and if their ability to make reasonable, intelligent decisions in a timely manner is compromised, the financial health of the company will likely deteriorate as well.

CHARACTERISTICS OF SUBSTANCE ABUSERS

Substance abuse experts and business owners who have been forced to deal with drug and/or alcohol abusers in their workplace cited a variety of warning signs that owners and managers should look for if they suspect a problem:

• Increased absenteeism and tardiness, especially immediately before and after weekends and holidays
• Deteriorating work performance, as manifested in big changes in work quality and/or productivity
• Frequent colds, flus, headaches, and other ailments
• High rates of mishaps, both on and off the job
• Unusually high medical claims

• Excessive mood swings, which may manifest themselves in immoderate levels of talking, anxiety, or moodiness
• Overreactions to criticism, both real or imagined
• Avoidance of supervisors
• Deterioration in physical appearance or grooming
• Financial problems

Researchers also note that certain industries and business dynamics seem especially prone to substance abuse problems. One substance abuse counselor flatly told Barbara Mooney of Crain's Cleveland Business that the extent of substance abuse problems in small businesses often depends on the makeup of its work force: "It's a problem prevalent among employers who hire a lot of entry-level people in industries with high turnover rates and high stress levels." Such conditions can be found in some retail establishments and especially in the restaurant industry, where late working hours, proximity to liquor, and demographic characteristics (prevalently young and single) provide a fertile atmosphere for substance abuse. Family-owned businesses are also cited as being particularly vulnerable to substance abuse problems, in part because family members may have a more difficult time being objective about a relative's work performance.

POLICIES AND STRATEGIES TO CURB SUBSTANCE ABUSE

Although tackling the problem of substance abuse can be a daunting one for small business enterprises, substance abuse experts and business researchers note that affected businesses can utilize a variety of steps that have a track record of effectiveness in curbing workplace drug and alcohol abuse.

 1 | 2  NEXT