Benefits of Using a Substance Abuse Testing Program for Your Company’s Hiring Process

The use of drugs especially marijuana is continuously on the rise. These days, even white-collar professionals now consume some of these drugs which means we should all throw out the notion that only gangsters and street thugs take drugs; teens are no exception as well. 

According to one study, over 94 million Americans have admitted to taking marijuana at least once. This means that there is a high chance that one or more of your employees consume marijuana. Although popularly consumed by smoking, marijuana can be consumed in several other ways including vaping and in addition to food. Click here to learn more about the various ways marijuana can be consumed. 

When it comes to the workplace, employees are required to be in their best state, which includes being physically, emotionally, and of course, mentally fit. The last one is the most important to us in this article. 

It’s been found that a lot of people who take any type of drug, especially, illegal drugs are usually mentally unstable in some way. Needless to mention the abuse of drugs can lead to several other health problems. Contrary to words on the street that marijuana doesn’t pose any major health issues, along with other abused drugs and substances, excessive use of marijuana will have severe consequences on a person’s health. 

For companies and employers, it has become necessary that they test workers and employees regularly to ensure they are free from drug usage and abuse. Nowadays, these tests are carried out in recruitment processes to weed out drug users so as to hire the best candidates for the job. Employers can visit https://ntatesting.com to learn more about finding workplace drug testing professionals. 

The following are some of the benefits of including substance abuse testing in hiring processes:

• Identify potential employees with drug problems
• Keep other workers safe
• Protect the company’s image
• Reduce employee turnover 

Identify Potential Employees with Drug Problems

When drug testing is included in a company’s hiring process, the possibility of employing people who illegally engage in drugs and other substance abuse is eliminated. Drug abuse problems certainly affects employee productivity in the workplace. To avoid any issues that may arise from substance abuse in the future, companies should add this step to their staff acquisition process.

Keep Other Workers Safe

Employers are responsible for providing a safe and healthy work environment for their workers. One of the ways to do this is by not employing people who abuse drugs and other substances. It’s been found that drug abusers often exhibit aggressive behaviors and are known to be easily provoked. 

Aside from being dangerous and posing a threat to their colleagues, individuals who illegally consume drugs will have a negative influence on the overall productivity of other employees. 

 

Protect the Company’s Image

In the corporate world and in business generally, name and image are things that are never joked with. Reason being that hardly will anyone do business with a company with a bad image or name. A good image shows credibility and trust; two very important virtues for success. 

That said, how do you think the public will perceive a company found to have workers that abuse drugs and other substances? I’ll leave you to answer that. Cutting off any employee that illegally consumes drugs right from the hiring process is one of the ways companies can protect their image and name. 

Reduce Employee Turnover

To maintain productivity and a safe workplace, a company may have to fire and replace employees who illegally take drugs. Not employing these types of epersons in the first place will help reduce employee turnover. 

Types of Drug Tests

There are a number of drug tests that employers can choose from. They include:

• Blood test
• Saliva test
• Urine test
• Hair follicle test

Blood Test

This is the most invasive and expensive of all drug test types as it is the most accurate. It is able to detect the metabolites of the substance right at the time the test is carried out and will also reveal the amount of the substance found. This test is very effective in testing for THC which is found in marijuana. Traces of this chemical can stay in the blood for up to a month even after abstinence. However, this test is becoming less frequently used because of its invasiveness and cost. 

Saliva Test

Saliva tests, such as DOT Oral Fluid Testing, are less invasive and becoming very popular these days. However, it’s important to note that this method will produce an accurate result only when the saliva being tested has recently been exposed to the drug being tested for. This means that a saliva test, like DOT Oral Fluid Testing, will most likely produce a false negative result for people who have abstained from use for about 3 to 5 days.

Urine Test

This is the most common of all substance test types for a very logical reason; urine is the main excretory medium of the metabolites of all substances taken into the body. In a urine test for marijuana, a sample is considered positive if at least 50ng/mL of THC is found in per millimeter of the urine sample. 

The two common methods used for this test are immunoassay and gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. For companies who plan to keep their recruitment period short, this drug testing method isn’t advisable as it takes a longer time to obtain results. Visit https://www.labce.com/spg2056292_immunoassay_techniques_used_in_drug_test_screening.aspx to learn more about immunoassay. 

Hair Follicle Test

When a drug is ingested, its metabolites travel to different parts of the body including the scalp and hair follicles. As a result, hair samples are also used to test for substances. Because these metabolites can stay in hair follicles for as long as three months after abstinence, a lot of people object to this test. 

A potential employee may have last used a substance like marijuana some months before, and still test positive. Due to this fact, its cost, and the time taken to get results, a lot of employers avoid using hair samples for pre-employment drug testing. 

Conclusion 

Testing should not only be done when hiring new staff, it should also be carried out on current employees to ensure they are all keeping to the no-drug rule. There’s no good time to conduct these random tests at the workplace, however, a good rule of thumb is to do so when you observe your employees are beginning to slack and have become less productive. 

*This is a collaboration post