The Common Signs an Employee is Abusing Drugs
We have said it multiple times, but a drug-free workplace is safer and more productive than one that has drugs present. Drug testing policies for Nashville businesses benefit the entire workplace, employees and employers alike. Whether your company tests their employees or not, there are common signs that employers should be on the lookout to ensure that the workplace is maintaining a certain standard from their employees. If an employer is to recognize the following signs from an employee, you may want to have a conversation with them or even require they take a drug test.
Performance Problems
When a person is abusing drugs, their brain function is hindered and that will ultimately lead to an issue with performance on the job. You will see issues such as inconsistent workflow, more mistakes on the job, and erratic work pace. These different factors affect the entire work environment, not just the person who is abusing. One person on any given team can drag the entire group down on a project and that means missed opportunities for your business. Performance can be a huge indicator of something being wrong with an employee, and it could be from a drug problem.
Personal Attitude and Physical Appearance
Drugs change people. From the way someone composes themselves to the way they act, drugs have a way of taking a person that is always well-dressed and polite to someone that doesn’t care and irritable. As an employer, noticing these changes in behavior are important and addressing them will keep your work environment safe from any hostility. You can tell when someone is using drugs in the work environment by the way they interact with fellow coworkers. If an employee blames others for his/her own mistakes or is frequently confrontational with others, then they more than likely are abusing some sort of illegal drug outside of the workspace. Drug testing before an employee is brought into the workspace is one simple way to avoid this problem.
Domestic Problems
This factor is harder to recognize, unless the employee is open with their personal life or you, as the employer, are close to them but domestic issues are usually a cause of a bigger problem. If an employee is going through a separation/divorce or they are having constant money problems, this can all derive from an existing drug problem that has gotten out of hand. It is the responsibility of the employer to know their employees and have an existing relationship with them.
Whether your company chooses to drug test employees, a drug problem in the workplace doesn’t just go unnoticed. There are a variety of factors that can give away someone that is abusing drugs in your workplace. Staying involved in what’s going on in the workspace, observing the behavior of your employees will allow you to recognize these common signs. If you see any of your employees displaying these different signs, you should take them aside to have a serious conversation and possibly require they be tested to ensure no drugs are present in your work environment.
Tags: drug test, corporate drug testing
