Pros And Cons Of The Employee Drug Test
Are you one of those employers who makes potential employees pee in a cup for a drug analysis before you make them a final job offer? If so, it’s certainly understandable. The employee drug test can make sure you’re not hiring someone with a chronic problem who might drive the company car while under the influence, steal money from clients to support a habit, or represent your company to the community while drunk or high. Those are some of the pros of the employee drug test, but there are cons as well. Read on to learn why you might want to rethink your drug testing policy.
John was so psyched about how well his job interview had gone that when the interviewer asked for an employee drug test before making an offer, John agreed without thinking twice. It had completely slipped his mind that he’d smoked a joint with an old college buddy over the weekend. Unfortunately, John tested positive for cannabis and was not offered the position. He lost out on a great job. And the employer lost out on a great employee. John was no drug abuser, and he went on to do great things in his career…and he did them for the interviewer’s competitor.
Employee Drug Test Pros
There are some valid reasons to drug test employees. One, certainly, is to catch chronic substance abusers who might steal from the company or from clients to support their habits.
Another reason to give a drug test is if the employee is going to use the company car or travel a great deal on behalf of the business. You certainly don’t want anyone you’ve hired to get into a wreck because he was too drunk or high to drive properly.
Finally, your client represents your business to the community and to your clients. Some illicit substances can lead to mood swings and outbursts of temper—definitely not the impression you want to make on a client. Co-workers, too, can be frightened by violence and threats of an employee under the influence.
Employee Drug Test Cons
Drug tests give only one small bit of information. At the moment the employee drug test occurred, the employee had an illicit substance in his or her urine (unless of course the test was a false positive, in which case you don’t have any factual information at all). The test doesn’t tell you if it was the employee’s first use or his four hundredth. In fact, people with serious drug problems often know how to beat drug tests, so you’re much more likely to weed out a “naïve” user than you are a hardcore addict.
Second, there are valid, legal reasons for an employee to have a positive drug screen. A person with chronic, hard-to-control pain who takes prescribed narcotic pain medication may test positive for opiates, for example, and someone who takes a prescription medication for anxiety may test positive for benzodiazepines.
Third, some employees might argue that what they do in their private lives, say, in the evenings or on the weekends, isn’t really the employer’s business as long as they perform their work capably and don’t come to work under the influence.
Finally, you may hire a person who is clean and sober and passes the employee drug test with flying colors, but who starts (or restarts) using or abusing illicit substances after they have worked for you for awhile. To guard against this possibility, some employers choose to perform random employee drug testing, but this is costly and difficult to manage as well as a blow to employee morale.
Employee Drug Testing: The Bottom Line
If you as an employer choose to perform employee drug tests, those tests should be just one source of information about your employee. The rest should come from your own observation and the observations of co-workers.
If a drug test comes back positive, discuss the results with the employee. Find out whether he or she is taking any medication that could have caused a false positive. If the employee admits to using drugs, talk frankly about his or her patterns of drug use and how those patterns would or would not affect his or her employment. There is a great deal of difference, for instance, between someone who cannot get through the day without several snorts of cocaine and someone who smokes pot a few times a year with college pals.
Use the employee drug test to inform your decision, if you like, but don’t let positive test results automatically stop you from hiring—or keeping—a capable employee. Communicate, observe, and terminate if—and only if—drug use is interfering with your employee’s professional life.
John was so psyched about how well his job interview had gone that when the interviewer asked for an employee drug test before making an offer, John agreed without thinking twice. It had completely slipped his mind that he’d smoked a joint with an old college buddy over the weekend. Unfortunately, John tested positive for cannabis and was not offered the position. He lost out on a great job. And the employer lost out on a great employee. John was no drug abuser, and he went on to do great things in his career…and he did them for the interviewer’s competitor.
Employee Drug Test Pros
There are some valid reasons to drug test employees. One, certainly, is to catch chronic substance abusers who might steal from the company or from clients to support their habits.
Another reason to give a drug test is if the employee is going to use the company car or travel a great deal on behalf of the business. You certainly don’t want anyone you’ve hired to get into a wreck because he was too drunk or high to drive properly.
Finally, your client represents your business to the community and to your clients. Some illicit substances can lead to mood swings and outbursts of temper—definitely not the impression you want to make on a client. Co-workers, too, can be frightened by violence and threats of an employee under the influence.
Employee Drug Test Cons
Drug tests give only one small bit of information. At the moment the employee drug test occurred, the employee had an illicit substance in his or her urine (unless of course the test was a false positive, in which case you don’t have any factual information at all). The test doesn’t tell you if it was the employee’s first use or his four hundredth. In fact, people with serious drug problems often know how to beat drug tests, so you’re much more likely to weed out a “naïve” user than you are a hardcore addict.
Second, there are valid, legal reasons for an employee to have a positive drug screen. A person with chronic, hard-to-control pain who takes prescribed narcotic pain medication may test positive for opiates, for example, and someone who takes a prescription medication for anxiety may test positive for benzodiazepines.
Third, some employees might argue that what they do in their private lives, say, in the evenings or on the weekends, isn’t really the employer’s business as long as they perform their work capably and don’t come to work under the influence.
Finally, you may hire a person who is clean and sober and passes the employee drug test with flying colors, but who starts (or restarts) using or abusing illicit substances after they have worked for you for awhile. To guard against this possibility, some employers choose to perform random employee drug testing, but this is costly and difficult to manage as well as a blow to employee morale.
Employee Drug Testing: The Bottom Line
If you as an employer choose to perform employee drug tests, those tests should be just one source of information about your employee. The rest should come from your own observation and the observations of co-workers.
If a drug test comes back positive, discuss the results with the employee. Find out whether he or she is taking any medication that could have caused a false positive. If the employee admits to using drugs, talk frankly about his or her patterns of drug use and how those patterns would or would not affect his or her employment. There is a great deal of difference, for instance, between someone who cannot get through the day without several snorts of cocaine and someone who smokes pot a few times a year with college pals.
Use the employee drug test to inform your decision, if you like, but don’t let positive test results automatically stop you from hiring—or keeping—a capable employee. Communicate, observe, and terminate if—and only if—drug use is interfering with your employee’s professional life.
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