Drug Addiction Treatment Blog

Sound management practices benefit all staff and improve overall productivity and morale—company features that ultimately result in increased profitability and success. These strategies require little or no modification to foster success for people in recovery. By adopting the following workplace practices, employers can help ensure that individuals in recovery experience a smooth transition into their workplace.

Maintain a drug-free workplace program

Employers who maintain comprehensive drug-free workplace programs that include employee assistance are well equipped to respond to a host of personal and health issues that may interfere with an employee’s job performance.

Offer flexible working hours

Flexible hours allow individuals to attend treatment-related meetings, support groups and counseling sessions.

Create a mentoring network for new employees

Senior employees showing newcomers “the ropes” helps alleviate the anxieties that typically accompany starting a new job.

Recruit worksite recovery sponsors

When possible, employers should recruit experienced employees to partner with new employees in recovery to help them stay on track. More seasoned employees who may have experienced similar problems can be a valuable source of support for newcomers who will inevitably face comparable on-the-job experiences.

Offer life skills training for employees and supervisors

Such training may include time and stress management and communication skills and often has a significant positive impact on all employees’ job performance.

Offer health insurance to all employees, when possible

Health insurance can significantly minimize anxiety when an employee or a member of his or her family gets sick. Making this insurance available soon after an individual is hired—not six months or a year later—is ideal. Employers should also confirm whether treatment for alcohol and other drug problems is covered under available plans. Such practices often contribute to an employee’s ability and desire to keep a job.

Plan work-related social events sensitively and carefully

Employers should keep in mind that some employees do not drink alcohol. To ensure that all employees feel comfortable, non-alcoholic drinks should always be visibly available during company-sponsored social events.

Respect confidentiality

Employers may not necessarily know who among their workforce is in recovery. If the information is known, employers must recognize and appreciate the delicate balance of wanting to help and an employee’s need and desire for privacy.

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Drug testing, such as through urinalysis, provides an objective or impartial measure of drug use. This objective measure stands in contrast to self-report measures of drug use, in which individuals are asked to describe subjectively their alcohol- or drug-using behaviors. Research has consistently documented that objective measures of drug use are more reliable indicators of actual drug use than self-report measures. Simply put, individuals are naturally inclined to hide embarrassing behaviors when given the chance to do so. Drug tests greatly reduce the likelihood of hiding recent drug-using behaviors.

Drug tests, like urinalysis, detect the presence of most drugs within 72 hours of use. After this window has passed, most drugs become undetectable. The exception is marijuana, which can be detected in urine for up to 30 days. Most drug tests cannot, however, identify historical use or drug dependence. Drug tests can only stipulate whether an individual has used a particular drug recently.

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Emotional – Aggression, anxiety, burnout, denial, depression, and paranoia.

Behavioral – Excessive talking, impaired coordination, inability to sit still, irritability, lack of energy, limited attention span, poor motivation, slow reaction time, and slowed or slurred speech.

Physical – Chills, the smell of alcohol, sweating, and weight loss.

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Addiction to alcohol or other drugs may be:

Chronic – Once an addiction is developed, it will always have to be addressed. An addict may manage to stop using alcohol or other drugs for significant periods of time, but the disease typically does not disappear. Rather, it goes into remission. Should “normal” drug use be attempted, “out of control” use will return rapidly.

Progressive – Addiction gets worse over time. With some drugs, the decline is rapid. With others, like alcohol, it can be more gradual.

Primary – Addiction is not just a symptom of some underlying psychological problem. Once the use of alcohol or drugs becomes an addiction, the addiction itself needs to be treated as the primary illness.

Terminal – Addiction to alcohol or other drugs often leads to death through damage to major organs of the body. Also, the risks of contracting Hepatitis C and HIV rise with use.

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