According to the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, in the past month alone, 21.4% of employed adults have used illegal drugs. In fact, you may have an employee in your company using drugs right now. Drug testing in the workplace allows you to determine if your employee is using drugs, as well as possibly deters employees from doing so in the future.
The Gains of Drug Testing in the Workplace
When a company employs a drug user or drug users, they are opening their workplace to a variety of problems. For one, productivity will take a drastic fall, as those using drugs are not functioning and cognitive in the way that a drug-free employee would be. This can also affect your other employees and their morale. No employee enjoys working alongside those who are suffering from drug addiction, let alone working with someone who is slacking. If your company is found to have drug-users that haven’t been caught by a drug test, it can greatly affect your company’s reputation. Sometimes, these employees could even be stealing from your company to feed their addiction.
With drug testing, you will avoid all of these risks and provide your employees with the work environment that they deserve. Your company will not have to worry about the need for a substance abuse recovery program and will avoid making health insurance payments for their employees. The chance of a workplace-related accident is also greatly reduced by keeping your company drug-free. With a drug-free workforce, you will experience fewer employee absences and a boost in productivity. For these benefits, your company should be adamant when deciding how to test for drugs.
The Disadvantages of At-Home Testing
Some companies may choose at home drug testing because it is the easiest, hassle-free way of obtaining results. However, home drug testing kits are often cheaply made and can be inaccurate. It is also much easier for an employee to tamper with the results of their kit when they are at home. An employee may use certain chemical products to balance out the pH of their urine or attempt to dilute their results with water. Your employee could also have a different person take the test for them.
The Benefits of Random Drug Testing
Implementing random drug tests prevents employees from predicting them. They will have no time to prepare to cheat on this test with methods like drinking water, performing a sauna detox, purchasing fake urine, or finding a substitute urine sample.
A random drug test doesn’t just provide the factor of having little time to prepare. By performing various random drug tests, your employees don’t know the timeframe between tests. By not being able to predict their next drug test, employees will hesitate to use drugs.
A Reliable Drug Test Service
Instead of taking the risk of an at-home drug test, you take the easy option of a company account with Soteria Screening Laboratories. With a company account, you will receive discounted drug and alcohol tests. You can also receive secure electronic record keeping, real time status updates of your tests, fast results, and an easy way to conduct randomized DOT and non-DOT drug tests.
