This document discusses managing drug and alcohol misuse in the workplace. It finds that about half of employers have disciplined employees for alcohol misuse and a quarter for drug misuse. The top reasons for workplace policies on misuse are promoting safety, supporting employee health, and addressing poor performance. Most employers communicate policies through staff handbooks and intranets, but few train managers. While most employers do not test for drugs or alcohol, safety-critical workplaces often do, typically for suspected issues. Employers commonly take a combined disciplinary and health approach to misuse issues and provide counseling, disciplinary procedures, and occupational health support.

1. Managing drug and alcohol
misuse at work
Ben Willmott
Head of Public Policy
CIPD

2. How big is the problem?
• About half of employers had disciplined employees for
alcohol misuse at work and about a quarter had
disciplined individuals for drug misuse in the previous
two years.
• Almost a third of organisations had dismissed
employees in the previous two years where the reason
or a significant underlying reason was alcohol
problems. And 15% have dismissed members of staff
where the reason, or a significant underlying reason,
was drugs.

3. The business case for managing
drug and alcohol misuse
Top three reasons why organisations
introduce policies to help manage drug and
alcohol misuse at work:
• to promote safety at work;
• to support employee health and wellbeing;
• in response to concerns over
poor/deteriorating employee performance.

4. Developing a policy
• Just under 60% of organisations have rules in
place about the possession of drugs and alcohol on
the premises.
• A similar proportion have a combined policy for
drug and alcohol problems and rules about alcohol
consumption during work time.
• More than a quarter of employers use a capability
procedure as part of their approach to managing
drug and alcohol problems in the workplace.

5. Communication of
policies and procedures
• The most common method of communicating
policies on drug and alcohol misuse is through the
staff handbook, with two-thirds of respondent
organisations providing information in this way.
• Under half of organisations use their intranet to
communicate policies on drug and alcohol misuse.
• Only 33% of employers train managers as part of
their efforts to communicate policies on drug and
alcohol misuse at work. Just 22% train employees
generally in the organisation’s policies, procedures
and approach to tackling the issue.

6. Testing for drug and
alcohol misuse at work
• In all, 22% of respondent organisations carry out any testing
of employees for drugs or alcohol misuse (18% in 2001)
• A further 9% of organisations are planning to introduce
testing for the use of drugs and/or alcohol at work.
• In all, 65% of employers don’t test and have no plans to start.
• The majority of testing for drug and alcohol misuse is carried
out by safety-critical organisations - 53% of safety-critical
organisations carry out testing of employees for drugs or
alcohol and a further 18% are planning to introduce this
approach.

7. Types of testing
• Among organisations that test employees for drug or
alcohol misuse at work, the most common approach is
to test when an employee is suspected of drug or
alcohol misuse as a result of performance issues or
because of inappropriate behaviour.
• More than a fifth of employers that test use this
approach for either suspected alcohol misuse or drug
misuse.
• Random testing for drugs or alcohol is rare, with only
about one in ten of employers that test using this
approach.

8. Developing a policy -
key points
• People and culture audit
• Consult
• Communicate
• Train -senior managers, line managers, OH staff
union/staff representatives
• Monitor and review

9. Providing support/taking
disciplinary action
• By far the most common approach to managing
alcohol and drug problems at work adopted by
employers is to treat it as a combined disciplinary
and health issue. About eight in ten employers use
this approach.
• Just 11% of employer treat drug misuse as mainly
a disciplinary issue while 8% treat alcohol misuse
in the same way
• Little difference between the sectors

10. Managing employees with
drug and/or alcohol
problems
• The three most common management interventions
to help employees with drug and/or alcohol problems
are:
• the provision of specialist counselling services
(about 50%)
• the use of disciplinary procedures (45%)
• referral to occupational health practitioners (39%)

11. Preventing employees from
developing drug and alcohol
problems
The most common interventions to help prevent
employees developing drug or alcohol problems are:
• the provision of occupational health services
• flexible working opportunities
• access to counselling services.

12. Providing support and
taking disciplinary action –
key points
• Confidentiality
• Training managers in people management skills
and disciplinary procedures
• Access to OH advice/support
• Performance issues – conduct and capability
• Treatment considerations/external support
• Return to work support
• Relapses

13. Referral for specialist
treatment and rehabilitation
• A third of employers have referred employees with
alcohol problems for specialist treatment and
rehabilitation in the last two years, with 12% having
done so for drug problems.
• Out of those employees that organisations have
referred to treatment or supported through
rehabilitation, just over 60% remained working for
the organisation after successfully managing their
problem.