Employers Failing to Manage Drugs and Alcohol at Work

New research from the Chartered Management Institute and Priory Group was publicised last week in the House of Lords (at the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Management). It reveals that only around half of all managers surveyed believe that their organisation has put in place - or is developing - a policy on drugs and alcohol.

One in five managers claim that alcohol misuse in their organisation has risen over the past few years and around one in six managers claim that drugs misuse has also increased.

To combat this problem, 55 per cent of managers support random drugs and alcohol testing in the workplace. Interestingly, this policy is more popular with managers under 35. However, one in three managers feel that random testing would be an invasion of privacy yet over a quarter (26 per cent) of managers want to see those tested positively for drugs dismissed instantly.

Help is at hand though for employees working in organisations which have adopted a drugs and alcohol policy: 71 per cent of such businesses offer counselling or guidance, and around half offer referral to an occupational-health practitioner or specialist agency, (57 and 46 per cent respectively).
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