Crafting drug and alcohol policies and related procedures is just the first step in a process. They must be presented to employees in order to be effective. How those policies and procedures are presented makes an enormous difference in how well workers accept it. A policy can be presented as a tool of punishment for wrongdoers and a dictum from management, or they can be presented by sharing the right reasons for implementing drug and alcohol testing.
Employers always have two choices when explaining the elements of drug & alcohol testing. The first choice is to present a particular requirement in a dictatorial manner that focuses on the negative aspects of drug and alcohol use. The second choice is to present the positive impacts workers will accrue as a result of testing. For example, it is recognized that substance abuse in the workplace presents safety risks. A trainer could say, “Drug and alcohol use is dangerous, and we could get sued if one of our employees causes an accident while under the influence.” On the other hand, you could present the testing program by saying, “We care about the safety and health of all our employees, and maintaining a substance free workplace ensures you can work safely and without worry about drugs and alcohol. The testing is our way of making sure we keep our promise to maintain a safe workplace.”
One of the complaints worker rights advocates have is that drug and alcohol testing is a violation of privacy. An employer could say, “We have the right to test workers for drugs and alcohol according to federal and state (or territory) laws.” Demanding rights is one approach, but a much better approach is to say, “We understand worker privacy concerns, so all test results are kept confidential.”
Presenting Within Context
The drug and alcohol testing program should be presented within the context of the larger business mission and objectives. Employers want to develop and maintain a working environment conducive to employee productivity, which in turn creates achievement opportunities for workers. In fact, worker drug and alcohol use is expensive in many ways. Businesses suffer financially from lower productivity, higher medical and insurance premiums, lost skills utilisation, increased management time spent on dealing with violations, and so on. When the business incurs unnecessary expenses, workers experience financial consequences like lower wage increases.
An excellent example of a drug and alcohol policy and procedures program is presented online by Priority People Solutions (PSS), which is a mining and construction recruitment specialist. Even the title of their policy, Drug and Alcohol Awareness, sets a positive tone. Compare the word ‘awareness’ to the word ‘policy’, and it is easy to recognise the humane approach PPS has adopted in regards to presenting its drug and alcohol policy and procedures.
Presenting drug and alcohol testing as a program instituted for the right reasons can have a major influence on its acceptance. The issue of the right of employers to test for drugs and alcohol has been settled.2 The important fact to remember is that people who internalise a company’s philosophy of keeping all employees safe and healthy are more likely to actively participate in the company’s efforts to maintain a substance free workplace. Presenting the right reasons may simply mean re-wording current training programs so that it is clear the testing is done for everyone’s benefit and contributes to everyone’s success.
To present the right reasons for drug and alcohol testing, the staff must first be trained. Mediscreen (mediscreen.net.au/) offers in-depth training and information sessions for managers, staff, and union delegates who are responsible for reassuring employees that high quality testing services are used.
This article has been taken from http://mediscreen.net.au/articles/?p=2225
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