Last updated : December 16, 2024
Employers want to bring people into the company that they can trust and who will be an asset to their coworkers. Pre-employment drug testing serves a valuable purpose in the hiring process. Just the fact that a company performs pre-employment drug testing deters drug users from applying in the first place. Moreover, it affords employers the chance to weed out any who didn’t get the memo.
The test is usually reserved for the final step before bringing someone on board. Once the test comes back negative, the person is usually given a start date; some employers even go so far as to let the new hire start working but staying is contingent on the result from the lab.
Signs of the times
Things going on in the world today have many people on edge worrying about what lies ahead. Large companies are laying people off, inflation continues on all fronts, and an ever-growing homeless population—which has been grossly exacerbated by the overwhelming number of migrants flooding into the country—are taking over city streets. As a result, lots of people are stressed out. It’s no secret that fear and anxiety cause some people to turn to drugs or alcohol to help them cope.
The problem with self-medicating, though, is that it often leads to addiction. People are overdosing on highly addictive synthetic opioids, such as fentanyl, which are flooding the drug market in cities and small towns across the nation.
Moreover, once someone gets addicted to drugs, the normal mode of operation (MO) is to carry on as normal—until they can’t any longer. It’s no surprise that accepting a position in a company without having mentioned they suffer from a substance abuse problem isn’t important at all. Earning money to keep the fixes coming, however, is another story.
Pre-employment drug testing can reveal someone’s substance abuse problem before they join the team rather than risking a post-accident drug test later on.
These numbers may shock you
In May 2023, American Addiction Centers posted the results of an analysis they conducted regarding pre-employment drug testing. Their team combed through Glass Door’s job listings for 50 major U.S. cities to determine the percentage of employers who require job applicants to take a drug test. The results among 49 of the states ranked New York at the bottom with 0.46% of employers requiring a pre-employment drug test. The numbers worked their way up to 2.4% ranking Portland, Oregon as the second runner-up.
One city outranked the others by a whopping—yes, we’re doing our best to make the best of a sobering situation—4.4%. That city is Arlington, Texas where 6.8% of job applicants are required to take a drug test. While the percentage is notably higher than any of the others analyzed, overall, the number speaks for itself.
Far more companies hire people without a pre-employment drug test than those that do.
Benefits outweigh cost
The waning economy has PR departments all over the nation scrambling to cut costs wherever possible. However, cutting out the drug-free program shouldn’t be part of that process. Employee drug testing affords employers several benefits that outweigh the cost. We already mentioned the fact that by promoting a drug-free workplace, people who use drugs probably won’t even apply. That fact stands alone, but we have more good news.
For instance, statistics prove that companies that start a drug-free program see a drop in the number of workplace accidents. Absenteeism decreases, tardiness, too. The turnover rate isn’t as high, either. Drug users are known for quitting a job in less than a year, often with no advance notice! The expense of training someone only to turn around and retrain for the same position can add up quickly. Not to mention the possibility of your trainer falling behind with their duties causing a drop in workflow.
Moreover, the company culture streams with a positive flow. That’s because employees who don’t use drugs far outnumber the ones who do. When an employer drug tests, employees know that you care about their well-being. That causes a sense of satisfaction within them. It’s going to reflect in their production levels, and their interactions with coworkers too.
Another thing to consider is that the majority of employees don’t use drugs. Rather than sending all employees to the test site and from there, the specimens go to the lab for analysis, you could cut expenses—unless mandated otherwise, of course—by purchasing rapid response tests and performing drug tests on site. If an employee tests positive, have them report to a drug testing facility to confirm the result immediately.
If you don’t already have a drug-free program in place, you should consider starting one. And, if you’re one of the 2.4%, don’t stop. Drug testing keeps your workplace safer and we know that’s your number one goal!
