New Survey Shows Workplace Drug Addiction Remains Major Issue

A new survey conducted by the nonprofit Hazelden Foundation found that while many employers acknowledge the seriousness of the problem of drug abuse and addiction in the workplace, the majority of those employers do little to address the problem. The survey polled over 1000 senior human resource professionals to provide a comprehensive look at the prevailing attitudes of employers toward substance abuse and how substance abuse is dealt with in the workplace.

Sixty-seven percent of HR officers polled believe that drug addiction is one of the most serious issues that companies face, and that abuse and addiction leads to higher instances of absenteeism, reduced productivity and a lack of trust between employees and management.

According to the survey, 62 percent of HR professionals believe that absenteeism is the most significant problem caused by substance abuse and addiction, followed at 49 percent by reduced productivity, a lack of trustworthiness at 39 percent, a negative impact on the company's external image at 32 percent and missed deadlines at 31 percent.

Ninety-two percent of HR professionals surveyed believe that employee treatment programs increase worker productivity and 67 percent believe that effective treatment reduces healthcare costs of employers, but only 22 percent actively deal with the problem by referring addicted employees to treatment programs, despite the existence of policies and procedures designed to deal with substance abuse problems.

Over half of the HR professionals surveyed pointed to a lack of acknowledgement of the problem by the employee as a major barrier to treatment, and almost half point to issues such as lack of knowledge of treatment programs, lack of time to deal with substance abuse issues, and personal discomfort in approaching suspected abusers as potential barriers to referring employees to drug treatment programs.

Other survey findings show that over half of human resource professionals believe that addiction and abuse is on the rise in women, and that women provide extra challenges to referring abusers to treatment. Seventy-five percent of professionals surveyed believe that women refuse treatment out of fear of losing custody of their children and that 58 percent refuse treatment out of fear their families will find out they are addicted.

The survey also shows that 85 percent of human resource professionals believe that drug testing is an effective way to diagnose substance abuse, despite research from the National Institute on Drug Abuse and Addiction that shows 69 percent of substance abusers are addicted to alcohol, which escapes detection in drug tests.

Source: Hazleden Foundation Press Release: (http://www.hazelden.org/web/public/2007workplacesurvey.page)