Last updated : December 23, 2024
Some job applicants and employees are annoyed at the thought of mandatory drugs tests. Perhaps they feel it’s an invasion of their privacy or that it’s perfectly acceptable to use drugs as long as they’re not actually at work when they indulge.
In reality, employers face significant risks when their workers use drugs, even if the behaviors don’t occur on the clock.
Here’s a look at what can happen when employees use recreational drugs on their own time.
Unpredictable Hangovers
Even if employees take drugs on their days off, the substances may still be in their systems and affecting their mental and motor skills to some degree after they return to work days later. For example, amphetamines and barbiturates stay in the body for up to four days. Opioid and methamphetamine drugs remain in the system for one to three days. Marijuana can stay around for up to a week. The actual length of time a drug affects its user’s performance directly depends on many factors including the strength or quality of the drug and the user’s tolerance level, metabolism, age and general health. It’s impossible for employers to predict which of their employees are more likely to show up for work under the influence of drugs.
Addicts and Attendance
According to the National Drug-Free Workplace Alliance, drug users are absent from their jobs an average of five days per month as a direct or indirect result of their drug use. Users have many reasons for missing work; this is especially true if they have developed an addiction. The physical and emotional need to obtain the drug may outweigh the desire to work despite the resulting financial strain. It may drive them to seek drugs outside of their immediate area, which will require time off. If a user has an unexpected reaction to a drug or physical illness related to taking it, this will also require them to miss work or show up late.
Serious Drug-Related Health Issues
Drug use greatly increases employer healthcare costs even when it happens off-site. Besides temporary adverse reactions and hangovers, casual drug use can lead to serious medical problems that require extended absences and hospital stays. In extreme cases, permanent disability and even death can occur. If a user is hesitant to seek medical care because he or she knows illegal drug use will be revealed, chronic pain or other physical symptoms may manifest as poor work performance. An increase in drug-related injuries can also raise an employer’s workers compensation costs.
Poor Judgment and Low Productivity
Most recreational drugs and many prescription opiates can have both short- and long-term effects on a person’s judgment, motor skills and sensory perception. All of these changes can contribute to or directly cause unsafe working conditions, workplace accidents or poor decisions that lead to monetary loss or injury to fellow employees or customers. A worker whose mental status and physical state has been impaired by drugs is less productive and tends to do inferior work.
Morale Problems
When drug users are frequently late or absent, or they perform poorly and make mistakes, other employees are forced to step in and pick up the slack. The situation can quickly lead to resentment and low morale, which can have a negative domino effect within a workplace. Employers owe their hardworking, sober employees support and fair treatment.
Legal Implications
Drug-related injuries or property damage may result in devastating lawsuits against employers, so ensuring a drug-free status at work and in their employees’ lives is prudent. In some cases, it can even help protect unrelated financial gains. For example, federal grantees and some contractors are required to maintain drug-free workplaces in order to receive grants or contracts from U.S. government agencies.
What Employees Do at Home Matters
Being a good employee doesn’t end after punching the time clock. Drug users are still drug users whether they are on duty or not. While non-users may find workplace drug control an inconvenient invasion of privacy, it’s important to understand the bigger picture. Companies that monitor employee substance abuse tightly are doing society a favor by deterring drug use in general and finding opportunities to intervene, and rehabilitate workers who need help.
