Drug testing in the workplace improves safety and productivity

Drug Alcohol Testing in the workplace has stirred up plenty of controversy with supporters highlighting the financial and safety costs of employees abusing substances at work while critics argue it is a violation of human rights and often targets drugs that do not influence performance.

James Lee (not his real name) was a sports reporter in a bustling Asian city who was often late to work. He would turn up just as a game was finishing and his write-up in the next day’s newspaper was nothing like what actually happened on the field. Drug and alcohol testing would prevent this misinformation. During the week of a high-profile tennis tournament featuring some of the biggest names in the sport, Lee was hardly courtside. Yet, his reports would feature in the next day’s paper and the quotes he used would be fabricated.

Alcohol Drug Testing might have saved the career of Lee, a talented young journalist and a likeable person. There were reports from colleagues that Lee would call them up at unsociable hours asking for money. He was once seen on a street corner flashing signs at passers-by, no doubt seeking funds to feed his addiction.

Lee eventually spent time in prison before being deported to his native country. In high-pressure work environments, Lee’s case is hardly unique, whatever the industry.

The saving grace for Lee was that his drug-related job performance did not directly affect the safety of his colleagues and his fictional storytelling never spawned any lawsuits against the company. Workplace drug testing requires people to be held accountable for their actions.

However, this is not always the case. Substance abuse by workers in industrial settings in which heavy machinery is used is a major safety risk. Drug testing in such an environment is crucial. The financial cost of under-performance and absenteeism because of drug use is also a reason why companies resort to drug testing. Drug and alcohol testing is helpful to prevent these things from happening on your jobsite.

A 2009 study by Australia’s National Cannabis Prevention and Information Center found that more than 70 percent of workplaces in South Australia expressed concern that drug abuse could jeopardize safety. Productivity (11 percent) and absenteeism (7.3 percent) were also significant concerns.

The center found that lower productivity as a result of substance or alcohol abuse cost businesses almost US$3 billion a year while employees using drugs were four times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident. A National Drug Strategy Household Survey, which cast a wider net of respondents representing about 30,000 Australians, showed that those in employment were more likely to have used illegal drugs in the previous 12 months than the unemployed.

Employees in the hospitality industry, such as hotels and resorts, were also more likely to have used drugs (31.2 per cent) than educators (9.2 per cent).

Random or unannounced Drug & Alcohol Testing goes a long way toward tackling the problem, which is a global issue and affects most countries where experimenting with social drugs, despite being illegal, is an acceptable, and often esteemed, way of life.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1984

Resiliency and Changing Jobs

Not all employees are fired over a drug and alcohol testing dispute. Some are simply let go under quieter circumstances. Whichever situation you may find yourself in, it is such a must that you have some stored resiliency to help cushion the blow of your job loss. If you feel as if you cannot handle this dramatic change in your life, here are some tips to help you out:

Remain calm. You would be surprised the percentage of bad decisions which are made while the individual is under duress. If you cannot remain calm, at least go somewhere where there are no people and there is no chance of anyone overhearing you. Then you can let it out without having to deal with others and without having to let others worry about what is going on with you.

Wait a while. Even when the first surge of emotions has hit, it is VERY IMPORTANT that you still wait a while, until you can effectively manage yourself fully. Emotions which are able to be suppressed are still able to cause damage to your decision making skills. It is important to plow through with your normal work, and wait until you KNOW that you are normal on the inside again.

Onsite drug & alcohol testing is meant to be used as a tool. If your test results for a job application are not positive, then you may have a very real difficulty in getting a job. Drug testing equipment can be found on our sister site, but Mediscreen provides onsite drug and alcohol screening for your business. Drug screening is important in maintaining a team of high quality employees. Drug testing in Australia has never been so easy since Workplace drug testing and drug screening went the way of the onsite location.

In conclusion, your resiliency is ultimately fed by you. If you do not continually maintain yourself throughout this difficult time, then you can end up lowering your whole standard of living. For more information regarding onsite drug and alcohol testing, visit our website. We serve all industries in the Australian workforce, and we would be honored to serve you.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1981

Political Jobsites and the Energy of Fighting

When your worksite has a lot of politics, then you are looking at a very negative situation, one that is much more so than you may realize. Politics and emotional stress in the office can make employees feel as if they will be personally attacked if they go in to work today. If the environment is harsh enough, then some people may resort to something as strong as substance abuse. Unfortunately, the cycle of this behavior tends to spiral downward, even if the political stress which was there before is identified by management and eliminated. It’s so important to see how employees get the best of themselves in this situation. Even political situations can be diffused and eliminated by the parties involved, if they know what to do about it.

The first step is to make sure that there is not an actual problem concerning business with a client or customer. Then, make sure that no one in the office or some asset in the office is not getting hurt. Secondly, make sure that everyone feels heard. Only at that point can understandings be dealt with appropriately. Employees can come to an understanding or have time to think about their own actions or can begin to feel a sense of remorse only after they feel that they themselves have been heard. It is so important to make sure that this is taken care of.

In the meantime, whether or not your worksite is filled with politics, you must make sure that no one is resorting to substance abuse to cover up their feelings. Workplace Drug Alcohol Testing laws can make drug screening necessary in some workplaces, but mostly Drug & Alcohol Testing and alcohol screening is implemented by the company and its desire to keep the jobsite positive and running smoothly. Smooth operation depends on there not being an energy of fighting. Alcohol Drug Testing and drug screening can really make a difference with that.

Deep down inside all of us, if we are fighting, our brains are not reasoning and blood flow is taken from the logical reasoning part of our brains and carried over to the reactive stance and fight or flight reactions which we all have. Don’t let this pervade your worksite. Call Mediscreen today to start implementing drug screening.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1978

How Does Drug Testing Work?

Workplace drug testing is becoming more and more the norm across Australia, with many industries even regulating and enacting their own rules about how, where, and how often employees can be tested. If you're involved in an industry that performs onsite drug and alcohol testing, you may be interested in learning about how such testing works in this country.

The oldest, and still most frequently used, method of drug screening is urine analysis, or urinalysis. During this process, a candidate will be asked to supply a test sample. This sample (usually given within hearing range of a professional), will be sealed in a specific way, and will follow a strict chain of custody until it reaches a testing facility. This is to ensure that no one can tamper with the sample. Once a laboratory receives the sample, it will be generally split into two parts. Drug screening using urinalysis looks not for drugs themselves, but for the metabolites from drugs (when a substance is broken down by the body it leaves trace amounts of other related but different substances behind, these are known as metabolites). Usually, one half of the sample will undergo an immunoassay, a preliminary screening that tests for drug metabolites by attempting to get reactions with other substances. If this initial test proves positive, a second, more complicated test will usually be done, involving gas chromatography to confirm the findings of the first test. Drug alcohol testing is considered so reliable because positive findings are tested twice, decreasing the risk of false positives.

Nowadays, it is becoming more common for oral drug tests to be used for the drug screening process. Generally, this is because of convenience. It is much easier to collect a sample of someone's saliva than it is to get a urine sample. Plus, a registered professional can take a saliva sample, thus knowing exactly where it came from without the chance of samples being switched or adulterated. During this drug screening process, a small swab is inserted into someone's mouth, and held there for two minutes. The swab will then be taken for testing to a laboratory. However, a disadvantage of this form of drug screening is that it is fairly ineffective for picking up long time drug use. It is useful for detecting current drug and alcohol use though.

The use of oral workplace alcohol testing is seen by some as a good compromise for those concerned about personal privacy. Because it is only useful for diagnosing use at the current moment (when drug or alcohol use could be impacting your job performance) and does not speak about your past history, oral drug screening does not impact on personal privacy issues as much as urinalysis does. Both methods are effective ways of performing onsite drug & alcohol testing, however.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1975

Hope for Better Growth Tomorrow

As you toil through your daily routines, it may seem as if every day is the same as the last. You cannot have hope if you have nothing to hope for. It is helpful to understand something about human nature. Life desires to fulfill and express itself to greater and more degrees in every way. Life itself has this characteristic, as does anything which is living. Trees grow, animals play, and children learn new ways of doing things.

Just because you are an adult now and have stopped growing physically does not mean that your mental or your emotional growth should stop. Often, people who enjoy challenges particularly enjoy work in which they can be creative and can step up their game from day to day. Not all of us have this job, but it is certainly something to strive for, both in our personal lives and in business.

Your company should reflect this same level of growth, and it is really important to understand some of the stumbling blocks which can get in the way of the progression of natural growth. For example, if some of your employees engage in drug or alcohol abuse, then you are looking at small individual walls which are being built inside the company. This slows down growth and further continuous fulfillment. Workplace alcohol drug testing can eliminate this problem, or at least make it a measurable situation.

If you can measure how much your employees are engaging in this illicit behavior while at work, then you can measure how much impact that it has on everyone around them. Drug alcohol testing is great for that employee who decides to have a drink at ten in the morning. Drug screening is perfect for the individual who wishes to knock off some of the stress of going to work. These little changes in your business can really result in better growth for tomorrow. 

You should have hope, too. Your business should be fulfilled in its own need for growth. Drug & alcohol testing can help you accomplish this goal. For more information about drug and alcohol testing, call Mediscreen today. 

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1972

Hold Your Tongue in the Company of Fools

There are several wise sayings pertaining to the fact that a fool will not understand the wisdom of your words, so it is best to not utter anything in their presence. What this is really saying is that people who have low abilities to comprehend social behavior and acceptable codes of conduct often find themselves ignoring advice from other people which is really good advice.

The above scenario should not be the case in your business, whether you are a newspaper or a candle making company. All of your employees should be able to help each other and take good advice from each other without idiocy getting in the way. Do you know what turns even the most respectable and kindhearted people foolish? That would be the effects of alcohol and illicit drugs.

Workplace drug testing exists to curb these situations. At any point in time, an employee should feel qualified to go to their boss and raise an issue which they believe is important. If they do not have advice givers in friends, they will be unable to discern between real problems and issues which they should handle themselves.

People are meant to help each other, not cause each other greater stress or harm or deficiency.

Some of the most amiable people on earth can be seen helping others, rather than becoming easily offended by an unwitting gesture. Workplace drug testing laws protect employees in industries which can affect the lives of many people. However, any company can easily and cost effectively implement alcohol testing in their workplace without the need of workplace drug testing laws. Any business can use onsite drug & alcohol testing for their needs. Drug testing in Australia has never been so easy, now that companies like Mediscreen use onsite drug and alcohol screening. Onsite testing ensures that employees can be screened at your place of business, and can then just return to work. It’s as easy as pie.

Alcohol testing can be especially necessary for work where fools prevail, whichever industry it may be. Sometimes, their words are not silly because they are idiots, but just because they are inebriated. Call Mediscreen today to schedule your testing.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1969

Drug testing in the workplace – the effects of methamphetamine

Drug Alcohol Testing in the workplace is seen as the most effective method of reducing the abuse of drugs and alcohol on the job, not only in Australia but across the globe. Among the most common substance that is abused by workers is methamphetamine, from the family of amphetamines that act as stimulants and speed up activity of the central nervous system.

Such drugs are common among the socially upmarket, and have evolved street terms such as “ice”, “crystal meth”, “meth” and “glass”.

Employers that implement Drug & Alcohol Testing in the workplace, or who intend to do so, may want to know why employers often resort to these drugs, beyond its common use as social drugs that help the upwardly mobile gain acceptance among his or her peers.

The Australian Drug Info Clearinghouse has identified three ways in which taking these drugs can have an impact on an employee’s output.

Better performance – Some use methamphetamine because they believe it enhances their performance at work. Onsite drug and alcohol screening prevents these people from working and endangering others. Employees working shifts, hospitality staff working long hours or long-haul drivers needing to stay away and concentrate for extended periods may resort to these drugs. However, while they do indeed help people to stay alert, the drugs affect how someone sees the world and how they react to certain situations, which may affect the safety of them and others.

Socially – Some people take methamphetamine outside work, most often socially. However, the stimulant effect of these drugs can last anywhere between seven and 24 hours and the “coming down” time may have a negative effect on their ability to perform at optimum levels.

Long-term effects –Regular use of methamphetamine will have an effect on a person’s health and overall wellbeing. This may result in employees having to take more sick leave than normal.

If an employee is taking methamphetamine during working hours, often the effects can be apparent for all to see. Drug and alcohol testing in the workplace helps to keep these from happening on the job. These include:

Speeding up of bodily functions – The heart rate increase, blood pressure rises and the person breathes faster.

Feeling good – a person may feel excited and have a false sense of wellbeing. He or she will also be energetic, alert and have an increased sense of concentration. Can’t stop talking – a person under the influence of methamphetamine will be talking more than usual. They will be restless, clenching his or her jaw and grinding the teeth.

Can do attitude – he or she will have heightened confidence, which may lead to the person taking outrageous risks that could endanger lives.

Faster and stronger – the person may not realise that he or she is stronger and has faster reaction times, with the potential to hurt others without realizing the strength being used. Onsite drug and alcohol screening is the solution to these problems.

Different look – the person may have enlarged pupils, dry mouth, sweat more and have a higher body temperature.

Confused – the user may suddenly think differently, confusing others and making him or her difficult to understand. They may also suffer anxiety attacks and appear to be mentally unstable.

Pain – the person may suffer headaches, dizziness and have a reduced appetite. Workplace Alcohol Drug Testing helps prevent accidents on or near the jobsite.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1963

Drug Testing and Office Politics

People who are unstable emotionally tend to also be unstable verbally. This is why office politics are often started…and continued…by people who are already a little off balance, emotionally speaking. Otherwise, there would be no more need for drama. You cannot go around accusing people of being unstable, though. You can, however, implement regular drug and alcohol testing for your employees so that you have a clear idea of what who is stable in private, and who brings professional behavior to the jobsite.

Companies implement drug screening and alcohol testing to ensure worker safety, but it is also to ensure their own safety. If an accident occurs, and the worker was under the influence of drugs or alcohol, then company may be held responsible for their behavior if there is not a clear record being kept of the employee’s drug and alcohol results.

Office politics can take a nasty turn when someone is having a bad day or when there is a particularly high stress in someone’s life, such as a death in the family or an injury. This stress can be transferred to other people through the medium of office politics. It is important to understand that many people, instead of dealing with their own feelings of loss or helplessness, instead choose to abuse substances. It is this choice which must be guarded against. Any business cannot afford for their employees to be the type who score positive on Workplace drug testing in their office. Alcohol testing is even less apparent, for alcohol can show up in very specific ways, but drug screening is really necessary, since it is less apparent.

Some industries, particularly high hazard industries, are subject to workplace drug testing laws. Office politics aside, onsite drug & alcohol testing is safe for your employees, and avoids those hurtful situations where someone, while under the influence, says or does things which are offensive.

Nobody wishes to remain in an environment where their own self respect can be attacked by someone else who is out of control. And nobody feels safe when a drunk employee starts becoming physical or starts hinting at it. Call Mediscreen today to schedule your onsite drug and alcohol screening.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1960

Drug testing employees as a standard procedure can eliminate those difficult moments

The manager of the agency probably wished she had introduced drug testing instead of accusing her staff member directly. It may have been the only way to have helped her administrative assistant, a good worker with plenty of potential who quit her job in a huff and never returned.

Betty had confronted Joanna (real names not being used) face to face, telling her she was using cocaine. Betty had seen Joanna snorting a white power from her hand-held mirror in the bathroom. Joanna said it was crushed aspirin to alleviate her migraine.

After the accusation, Joanna quit her job, saying her efforts and hard work had not been appreciated. She was not to be seen again. 

Drug Alcohol Testing would have been a non-intrusive way of helping Joanna. All employees would have been treated equally and no one would have been singled out. Unlike Joanna, who had found pamphlets about cocaine abuse strewn on her desk where everyone could see.

Betty was only trying to help after Joanna’s performances started to fall and her requests for loans increased. She thought by confronting Joanna, there would be a positive response. 

Alcohol Drug Testing in the workplace is emerging as an increasingly valid method of tackling what is becoming a major global issue. Countries around the world such as the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, Malaysia and many others have recognised the need to address drug use in the workplace, which increases safety risks and costs billions of dollars in lost productivity annually.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse in the United States reveals that more than two-thirds of people who abuse drugs and alcohol are in employment, more than half of them full time. Workplace drug testing is a useful tool to prevent this from happening in your own company.

It estimates that more than one hundred billion dollars a year is lost because of employees abusing drugs, three-quarters of it from reduced productivity. Other costs involve medical bills and addiction treatment. Onsite drug and alcohol testing can save costs.

Employees using drugs are also four times more likely to be involved in a workplace accident, reflecting similar survey figures from research in Australia. In addition, according to government statistics, these drug-abusing employers are five times more likely to file workers’ compensation claims.

The cost of Drug & Alcohol Testing on a wide scale is cost-effective when compared to the losses incurred through reduced productivity. One drug test usually costs less than US$50. It may be worthwhile for employers in industries where drug abuse by employees drastically affects profit to take on the costs of drug testing their own staff. Workplace drug testing is the solution.

The problem Betty might have faced is the legality of forcing Joanna and her colleagues to submit to a drugs test, which is not allowed in every state. 

Company policies regarding testing employees, therefore, must comply with state-level laws. 

Even if testing is allowed, how employers are able to respond to those testing positive for drugs is also limited depending on the state.

Patrick Dixon, in globalchange.com, says that drug testing is probably the single most effective way of cracking down on substance abuse within the workplace, though he questions some of the legal and moral aspects of such a program.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1957

The advantages of drug testing in the workplace

As the debate rages on about whether or not drug testing in the workplace is morally, if not legally, wrong, statistics from around the world confirm that substance abuse by employees continues to cost lives and money.

The National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance, of the United States, says that 40 per cent of industrial fatalities in the country are linked to alcohol abuse. It says drug-using workers are almost four times more likely to be involved in workplace accidents than drug-free workers, reflecting identical results found in a survey by Australian researchers.

Loss in productivity because of drug and alcohol abuse in the US amounted to about US$119 million in the mid-90s while substance abusers were also found to be 33 percent less productive than other employees and cost their employers US$7,000 annually.

Drug Alcohol Testing in the workplace is an effective way of identifying employees who may be abusing drugs and helping them to overcome their problem. Onsite drug and alcohol screening can help with these problems.

The National Institute of Drug Abuse identifies four major problems associated with drug abuse in the workplace, which can largely be countered by drug testing employees.

Safety – according to the US Labor Department, 65 percent of workplace injuries are related to substance abuse while 40 percent of workers who use drugs cause accidents. An employee impaired by drugs and/or its after-effects is less alert and a major safety risk to fellow workers, especially in industries using heavy equipment. Air traffic controllers, train drivers, ambulance drivers, bus drivers, miners and pilots are also in a situation where their job performance directly affects the lives of others. Drug and alcohol testing is good.

Organizational efficiency – Alcohol and drug abuse is known to reduce productivity with studies the US and Australia showing that losses of hundreds millions of dollars are incurred each year because of employees performing below standards from substance use. Problems include absenteeism, low performance and the increased cost of replacing under-performing staff.

Reputational risk – An industrial accident that goes beyond the company and affects the public, such as a bus or train crash, or having public officers, such as police or fire service personnel, involved in drug abuse, can cause such institutions to suffer reputational risk when public confidence is paramount.

Employee welfare – Drug abuse has overall health issues whether or not it affects performance. Workplace drug testing as a deterrent can promote healthy lifestyles among employees, thus raising productivity, and encourage those who may have a problem seek help. Drug & alcohol testing is useful.

According to the Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice, a survey was conducted among companies that had performed Alcohol Drug Testing on its employees over a certain number of years. It found that 19 percent of organizations experienced an increase in employee productivity after implementing drug tests.

More than 15 percent reported a drop in absenteeism to 4 percent from 9 percent. Fixty-six percent of companies with high workers’ compensation claims reported a drop of 8 percent in claims after drug testing was introduced. Finally, 16 percent of companies said employee turnover decreased since testing was implemented. 

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1951

A History of Drug Testing in the Australian Workplace

When considering employing drug testing in your company, you should realise that you are not alone. Whereas the introduction of onsite drug and alcohol screening may be a relatively recent phenomenon, it is far from being completely new.

NSW State Rail Authority was the first Australian company to provide drug screening in 1988. And although the programmes were not implemented for several years after inception, both the Australian Federal Police and the NSW Police Service proposed drug testing in the workplace as early as 1990. Shortly thereafter, policies governing workplace drug testing were implemented in the New South Wales mining industries, utilising urine and breath testing for those employed in positions that were particularly safety sensitive. The Australian Defence Force also has the right to use targeted testing on serving personnel, using urinalysis, and later introduced randomised drug screening.

In the mid nineties, the first Australian Standard regulating guidelines for urinalysis was introduced. It concerned itself with recommending guidelines for both collection and analysis of urine for the purposes of drug screening. BHP Iron Ore Mines introduced voluntary testing shortly after this, but was able to introduce random screening only after a long and complicated industrial dispute. Ten years after the first Australian Standard regulating drug screening for urine, a new Australian Standard was devised regulating drug screening for oral fluid samples. Nowadays, many companies are implementing onsite drug and alcohol policies.

Unlike in the US, where the government has enacted a specific Drug Free Workplace Act, Australia does not have specific laws governing the ability or obligation of companies to enact onsite drug and alcohol screening. Several industries, however, have their own standards, particularly the aviation and mining industries, where health and safety rules allow for testing to ensure correct safety procedures can and will be followed. Generally, in the majority of industries, workplace Alcohol Drug Testing falls under the heading of health and safety. Health and safety procedures may or may not specifically mention drug testing, depending on the industry, but it is seen as implied where it is not specifically mentioned.

Drug & alcohol testing has been somewhat controversial in Australia, and industry rules are frequently challenged. Many industry employees or trade unions have taken industry rule makers to tribunals or commissions in order to challenge their right to test for drugs and alcohol in the workplace. These people see drug screening as an invasion of privacy. However, it is becoming more and more accepted that whilst drug screening may involve some loss of privacy, it is becoming essential in order to preserve safety standards in the workplace. Workplace drug testing laws may not yet have become the norm in Australia, but industries are now seemingly choosing to govern themselves on this matter, and to enact Drug Alcohol Testing procedures anyway. 

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1943

Timing

Employees who have timing rarely get in trouble with their bosses and are often thought of as being leaders in their workplace. However, those who lack timing can be accident-prone and can get in trouble at the worst possible times. Sometimes, these employees are seen as idiots and nothing more.

If you are considering updating your onsite drug and alcohol screening program, consider this. Employees must be able to work together and under you. They must not only have technical skills, but they must also have social skills, as well. If they are abusing drugs or alcohol, they will hardly have any social skills or competency at all. They must be professional, and if they are not, this can negatively impact your entire workplace, from your executives to your client base.

Workplace Drug & Alcohol Testing is extremely effective. It gives scientific insight into illicit behavior used by your employees to cope with their surroundings. If you understand how they interact, then you are able to truly see how well they are doing in their jobs, and it helps them when you are able to give them accurate assessments of their work. However, if your sight is clouded by the lack of drug screening results and their weird behavior, you can find yourself at a loss for a reasonable course of action. You cannot, after all, dismiss their employment on grounds of them being weird. You must have a proper legal reason for keeping the sane ones and dismissing the loons who cannot keep their emotional baggage all in one terminal. We kid, of course.

Mediscreen’s onsite Drug Alcohol Testing services help you to not only see your employees’ behavior, but to improve, over time, the quality of employees which you retain. In fact, drug screening is especially helpful for improving the timing of your employees. They will be able to see when is a good time to discuss a raise and when is a bad time to bring up a problem with a coworker. Everything will improve by retaining the employees with the higher emotional intelligence. For more information on how regular Alcohol Drug Testing can improve your jobsite, call us today.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1938

Time Saving Ways to End the Dialogue

In both workplace drug testing situations and in circumstances where drug screening is not currently being implemented, employees have a lot to say. As an employer, you must listen to every complaint and every comment on what is being done within the company. However, occasionally you will run across an eager person who is so full of talk that they cannot seem to finish what they are saying. Here are some time saving ways to end the dialogue:

Physically move toward the door. Sometimes, an eager talker will not understand that you have somewhere to be, and if you move toward the door or away from them, they will be able to see that the conversation needs to end pretty quickly so that you can go about your affairs.

Interrupt them. Occasionally, you will just need to interrupt what they are saying. Do NOT comment on what they are saying, for they will simply interrupt you in turn and continue talking. Say, “That is so interesting. Can we talk about this at such-and-such a time? I have to go finish this report. I want to hear the rest of your story!” That way, it is in no regard a rejection, but it discreetly removes you from the area.

Bring in a third party. If you can get someone else to stop for a minute, then you can quickly excuse yourself and leave the vicinity without actually requiring your storyteller to finish their side of the discussion. This is especially helpful if anyone at all happens by. Try not to use this all the time, lest you get a reputation, but if you are running out of time to an emergency level, this is one of the more decorous ways to leave.

If you find yourself requiring more time to spend with your employees, remember that workplace Alcohol testing reduces the number of invalid or emotional complaints that you will receive, thus freeing you up to deal with more valid problems.

Onsite drug and alcohol testing is especially helpful in making sure that all of your employees are emotionally competent to handle their jobs. Alcohol testing is necessary to ensure workplace safety. For more info on drug screening, get in touch with Mediscreen today.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1935

The Energy Animals

In Daniel Goleman’s Working with Emotional Intelligence, he describes in one of the political awareness subsections about how some people can become very politically aware, but are only aware of where power is within the organization in order to serve themselves. These people are called Energy Animals.

According to Goleman, these energy animals actually hurt themselves, because they are focused on what can be done to serve their own needs, rather than seeing the situation and people before them in a truly objective sense, thus getting a truly accurate feeling for what is going on. Energy animals become especially limited in their scope of understanding because they tune out everything which will not affect them directly and which does not directly serve their needs. Thus, their quickly and mostly accurately gained knowledge has holes in it. Their innate political awareness is not as aware as they need it to be.

In his book, Daniel Goleman presents findings that are heavily and thoroughly researched. He understands through his extensive and deep data mines that people who are unable to fully see a political situation in a worksite are extremely liable to make some bad blunders, mistakes which can cost them their jobs.

At Mediscreen, we know that Onsite Drug & Alcohol Testing can greatly help your political awareness, not just of your employees’ substance abuse, but of how your employees interact with each other. Your clear head and their clear heads will be able to see the power situations between people much more clearly. In fact, workplace drug testing laws have given power to both employers and employees, because through alcohol testing and drug screening, you can determine exactly what is going on without becoming emotionally involved with the office politics, so to speak.

Alcohol testing can really help your business. People who rightly crave power can limit themselves by only seeking after their own needs rather than seeing the truth for what it really is. Don’t let them turn into energy animals. Help them by using workplace drug testing, and by calling Mediscreen today.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1929

Standards Which You Set for Yourself

Standards are internally based. A true professional has seen, many times in their life, just how good a situation can be, professionally speaking, which is why they will not settle for anything less. Professionalism must be maintained if an employee is to have a steady job and if a company is to have a steady revenue flow. Workplace drug testing allows companies to set standards on how low their employees are allowed to go before they must be let go and be replaced by higher quality workers. Drug and alcohol testing enables the owner and whoever else in charge to evaluate who is still employable and who must be let loose.

Now, drug screening is not the only test for how well an employee is doing. Employee evaluation data helps to see an employee with a steady work ethic as high employable, and perhaps promotable.

No matter how often drug and alcohol testing is used as a tool for evaluation, standards which are set must be internal, as well. If an employee cannot see themselves as competent and able to pull off the highest quality of work, then they are far less likely to continue working with the client or to continue attracting the customer. Why is this? The reason is that those who do not believe in themselves often do not follow through on what they should do. Even if they know how to do something, their low level of belief in themselves is such that they cannot see how changing the energy of the situation will make anything better. They give up hope.

Drug and alcohol testing is used as a tool for evaluating employees. Obviously, drug screening is used to test for drugs, and alcohol testing is used to test for a higher than legal amount of alcohol in the blood. A company can set its only policies for zero tolerance for any amount of alcohol in the blood, even a very small amount, but that is up to the business. Onsite Drug & Alcohol Testing is helpful in determining what you need to know in a safe, effective environment.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1923

Professionalism under Stress

By their very nature, professionalism and stress are inversely correlated with each other. That is to say, as professionalism increases, stress decreases. By the same token, as stress increases, professionalism decreases. It is so important that you understand how these two things can directly affect each other. For instance, let us say that you are having a really stressful day. Your kids were acting up and your spouse started a fight with you just this morning. You can already feel the stress rising inside of you now that you are thinking about the situation. Now, think about someone who has just walked into your office or onto your jobsite. They are a current or potential client or customer and your paycheck depends upon how well they are treated and how well you compose yourself during your greeting. Immediately, you squelch any emotions or uncontrolled behavior which may be inside of you, and you smile and greet them in a professional manner.

Now, while you are thinking of the above situation, isn’t your previous stress level decreasing? Isn’t there something which is actively being regulated inside of you as we speak?

That is the difference between a successful business and a mediocre one. A successful business looks at Drug Alcohol Testing as an opportunity to maintain the proper level of professionalism within their employees for the maximum amount of time possible. A mediocre company tests their employees less frequently and using lower quality standards, because they are merely observing workplace Alcohol Drug Testing laws. The difference between the two companies is that the clients of one company are infinitely better treated and more satisfied than the clients of the other company.

This is why we do what we do. This is why Mediscreen is in business today.

Onsite drug & alcohol testing is effective. It is simple. It is strong. When you are looking for a way to strengthen you company using the least possible increase in revenue, this is the way to do it. This protects current employees and maintains high professionalism and low stress throughout the workday. And, isn’t that just more enjoyable for everyone? Call Mediscreen today.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1920

Drug Testing in Your Control

Drug testing is in your control. Sometimes, the mentality surrounding drug and alcohol testing is a little tainted. There is the control of another human which some managers feel to be unnecessary. There is the often-complained-about violation of privacy which some employees feel to be unnecessary. However, if you have enough experience in the workplace, then you fully understand just how important drug screening and alcohol testing really is.

In order for employees to be safe, not just from their authorities but from each other, there must be unspoken boundaries already in place. If someone has poor social skills or low emotional intelligence, they may easily step over these boundaries, even if they have just begun work. If someone has worked in a job for a long time, they may become cocky or too self assured, and their work discipline may lag, endangering fellow employees. Often, neither of these has to be the case, but it is simply a matter of several employees having worked together for a long period of time, and they feel like friends or family members, and therefore lower their boundaries with each other. This can distort the differences between friends and colleagues, making other colleagues seem more accessible and making friends seem more reliable.

Workplace Drug Alcohol Testing exists to keep these boundaries in place, even when the individuals in question are no longer or are poorly using them. Workplace Alcohol Drug Testing laws exist to protect companies and employees, both, and this is necessary to bring social order to an environment which is not necessarily guarded by the police or other enforcers of the law. Managers and executives must keep these things going, because even they are not fully able to prevent accidents, just by being present. Accidents or fights can happen even when an authority figure is on the scene. Their presence does not act like a magic marker. At Mediscreen, we provide onsite drug & alcohol testing to companies throughout our country, and we want to serve your business, too. You need control over your workplace environment, and we have the skills and the fortitude to work successfully with your employees on your job site.

This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=1913