New CIPD survey shows drug and alcohol misuse to be a significant cause of lost productivity

Four out of ten employers believe alcohol misuse is a significant cause of employee absence and lost productivity. And one third of organisations report that drug misuse has a similarly negative effect in the workplace, according to new research from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) and People Management magazine.

Despite the damaging impact of drug and alcohol misuse at work about four in two of the 500 organisations surveyed have no policy in place to help them manage this challenging issue. The survey also finds employers could do more to support employees with substance dependency problems, with only 38% of employers providing co-ordinated rehabilitation support to help individuals with drug or alcohol problems return to work after treatment. Only a half of employers provide access to counselling or to occupational health services for employees fighting drink or drug problems.

However the survey finds that where organisations refer employees with drug or alcohol problems to specialist treatment or give them rehabilitation support, more than 60% remained working for the organisation after successfully managing their problem.

Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser and author of the report says: ìSupporting employees with drug and alcohol problems has a high success rate with many individuals returning to work. But organisations must make employees aware of the policies and support in place otherwise they will not have the confidence to hold their hand up and acknowledge they have a problem and need help.

ìSince 2001 the number of organisations with drug and alcohol policies has remained around the same (58%) and where organisations do have policies they are doing very little to actively promote them. Simply adding a policy to a rarely used staff handbook is unlikely to ensure the issue is seen as an ongoing priority. Organisations should engage with their employees to ensure that they are fully aware of its provisions ñ this can be done via staff briefings, poster or publicity campaigns at work, internal notice boards newsletters and email alerts.

ìTraining managers so that they are able to identify and manage drugs and alcohol misuse in the workplace is also essential. Yet only a third of employers train managers in how to manage these sorts of issues at work

ìClearly drug and alcohol misuse is an issue which needs to be taken seriously within the workplace. The Health and Safety Executive currently estimates that up to 14 million working days are lost each year due to alcohol related problems, costing British industry an estimated 2 billion each year.î

Other key findings:

Dealing with drugs and alcohol problems

Only 33% of employers train managers in how to manage misuse of drug and alcohol at work and just 22% train employees generally in organisation procedures in tackling these issues.

22% of employers currently carry out testing for alcohol or drug misuse and a further 9% plan to introduce some form of testing

Almost a fifth of employers are planning to introduce a combined policy on drug and alcohol misuse at work

60% of employers prohibit alcohol consumption on the organisationsí premises and 24% prohibit alcohol consumption when entertaining in work time.

27% would report employees that are found to have used illegal drugs to the police

Almost a third (31%) of organisations have dismissed employees in the last two years due to alcohol problems

15% of organisations have dismissed members of staff where the reason or a significant underlying was drugs

Just 12% of respondent organisations have referred employees with drugs problems to specialist treatment and rehabilitation in the last two years