Four out of ten employers believe alcohol misuse is a significant cause of employee absence and lost productivity and one third of organisations report that drug misuse has a similarly negative effect in the workplace, according to new research from the CIPD and People Management magazine. 

Despite the damaging impact of drug and alcohol misuse at work 42 per cent of the 500 organisations surveyed have no policy in place to help them manage this challenging issue. The survey also finds employers could do more to support employees with substance dependency problems, with only 38 per cent of employers providing co-ordinated rehabilitation support to help individuals with drug or alcohol problems return to work after treatment. Only a half of employers provide access to counselling or to occupational health services for employees fighting drink or drug problems.

However the survey finds that where organisations refer employees with drug or alcohol problems to specialist treatment or give them rehabilitation support, more than 60 per cent remained working for the organisation after successfully managing their problem.

Ben Willmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser and author of the report says: “Supporting employees with drug and alcohol problems has a high success rate with many individuals returning to work. But organisations must make employees aware of the policies and support in place otherwise they will not have the confidence to hold their hand up and acknowledge they have a problem and need help."

He warns that training managers so that they are able to identify and manage drugs and alcohol misuse in the workplace is also essential, yet only a third of employers train managers in how to manage these sorts of issues at work.  He recommends that organisations engage with their employees to ensure that they are fully aware of the provisions of its drugs and alcohol policy via staff briefings, poster or publicity campaigns at work, internal notice boards newsletters and email alerts.

The Health and Safety Executive currently estimates that up to 14 million working days are lost each year due to alcohol related problems, costing British industry an estimated £2 billion each year.

Other key findings:

Dealing with drugs and alcohol problems

• Only 33% of employers train managers in how to manage misuse of drug and alcohol at work and just 22% train employees generally in organisation procedures in tackling these issues.
• 22% of employers currently carry out testing for alcohol or drug misuse and a further 9% plan to introduce some form of testing.
• Almost a fifth of employers are planning to introduce a combined policy on drug and alcohol misuse at work.
• 60% of employers prohibit alcohol consumption on the organisations’ premises and 24% prohibit alcohol consumption when entertaining in work time.
• 27%  would report employees that are found to have used illegal drugs to the police.
• Almost a third (31%) of organisations have dismissed employees in the last two years due to alcohol problems.
• 15% of organisations have dismissed members of staff where the reason or a significant underlying reason was drugs.
• Just 12% of respondent organisations have referred employees with drugs problems to specialist treatment and rehabilitation in the last two years.

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