Drug Testing: What Employers Look For WHY DRUG TEST?
There can be many reasons for a business to drug test its employees.
If a business uses dangerous equipment, such as what can be found in construction, then yes, it is a good idea to weed out an employee who could be a danger to themselves and others via of heavy and powerful equipment. Or if a business interacts with personal data, like medical offices, law firms, or investment firms, it probably is a good idea to drug test to root out employees who might not be trustworthy when dealing with sensitive material. But overall, the main reason many businesses drug test their employees has nothing to do with safety or sensitive work issues. The reasons most companies drug test is due to efficiency. These entities want to make sure their employees are working at the highest level of performance possible. It’s the belief, within this sphere of drug testing, that a chain is only as strong as its weakest link. And in American business, that weakest link is more than likely someone who is suspected of being compromised by alcohol or drugs. To that end, it’s no wonder that most American businesses, for better or for worse, believe the weakest link most assuredly is the abuser at work.
AMERICAN BUSINESSES VS THE WORLD Drug testing is performed on employees worldwide. Testing however is most prevalent in the United States. This could be in direct correlation with the world’s view vs. America’s when it comes to drug use, both medicinally and recreationally. While Europe, Asia, Africa, South America and other regions of the world have tough drug laws, their overall attitude about drug use, such as marijuana is somewhat lax when compared to the US. And yet, it’s the US who has the strictest and wide-reaching drug testing policies in nearly every facet of business, from investment, banking and healthcare, through to construction and manufacturing.
WHAT DO EMPLOYERS TEST FOR?
Many employers use a five-panel test to find if their employees are illegal drug users. That test screens for the following types of drugs:
Marijuana
Cocaine
Phencyclidine
Amphetamines
Methamphetamines
Speed
Crank
Ecstasy
HOW DID DRUG TESTING START? Many experts in the field of employee relations, drug testing and human resources chart drug testing back to the Reagan area. It was then that we first heard of pissing in a cup or getting our mouths swabbed with cotton.
The reason for this entailed Reagan’s 1988 executive order that required all federal employees and some contractors to be tested. Even as the U.S. government did this, typical American employers weren’t required by law to follow suit (then or now: drug testing is voluntary within American business). Nonetheless, some of the more established companies took this as a cue, as well as an added layer of safety, security and most importantly, efficiency. The result of this trend in both government and private enterprise drug testing, directly helped create a new industry of businesses and products dedicated to drug testing. Of course, law firms got into the act as consultants to the rights and wrongs, dos and don’ts of drug testing, as well as laboratories that carry out, monitor and record drug test results.
IS DRUG TESTING EFFECTIVE? For the most part drug testing is extremely ineffective. For the expense involved in test kits per employee, staff to administer the tests, and lab work afterwards, a good-sized company of 500 or so employees can spend tens of thousands of dollars on what’s really a gamble that a hand-full of drug abusers will be revealed. And even at the point where one or two users are found, it’s difficult to justify the cost that a company has undertaken to tell a few people they failed their drug test and no longer have their jobs. Then there is the possibility that the drug tests itself has failed, and with that, has to be administered again. This can become a colossal waste of money and time, which the testing itself was to eradicate in the first place as far as drugged-out employees and inefficiency are concerned.
IS DRUG TESTING LEGALLY EFFECTIVE? The changing landscape of what are and what are not acceptable drugs within the workplace has placed added pressure on the efficiency and now, the legal aspects of drug testing.
For instance, in light of the stigma that reaches marijuana and its users, who is a company going to believe when faced with an employee who medicinally uses marijuana? The patient, the doctor prescribing the marijuana use, or the wives’ tale of pot being a stoner drug, and with that, we all know stoners are lazy, shiftless losers unfit for most work. Of course, there always is the prescription drug market which is responsible for the drug epidemic in our country. With so many side effects caused by opioids, it would seem a good portion of Americans aren’t fit to work in any corporate non corporate environment.
POTENTIAL ALTERNATIVES In the event a person does test positive during a drug test, they and the employer should come to a compromise that otherwise does not destroy the employee’s career while maintaining the employer as an efficient business in which only the drug-free work. Communication and counseling should instead be put in place to make certain the employee is still able to do their work and be an effective part of the team while on the medications or recreational drugs they have taken. It’s a competitive world out there. Good, strong American companies need good, strong employees. While drug testing has its place in certain industries where an employee has to absolutely be uncompromised, it is by no means a perfect science. On the contrary, issues like drug testing are more gray than black and white, and will continue to be so from here on in. The world is fast-paced and complicated, and will continue to be so. With that, it’s easy to fall into the trappings of drug addiction, even if it’s just to deal with life. If you feel you or a loved one has an issue with drug us, contact BLVD Treatment Centers. At BLVD Treatment Centers we custom tailor our recovery programs within the safe and nurturing confines of our rehab treatment centers. Located throughout California, in Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego and in Portland, OR, our mission is to assess the severity of your addiction to help you achieve true recovery within 30 days.
Call us now at 1-866.582.9844.