According to the National Council on Alcoholism and Drug Dependence (NCADD), 70 percent of the estimated 14.8 million Americans who use illegal drugs are employed, and drug abuse costs employers an estimated $81 billion a year. NCADD notes that employees under the influence of drugs or alcohol "can cause expensive problems for business and industry, ranging from lost productivity, absenteeism, injuries, fatalities, theft, and low employee morale, to increases in health care costs, legal liabilities, and workers' compensation costs." In specific, according to NCADD, being under the influence on the job can lead to inconsistent work quality, poor concentration and lack of focus, lowered productivity or erratic work patterns, needless risk taking, and/or disregard for the safety of the self and others, leading to work-related accidents and injuries.
While virtually all large employers screen applicants for substance abuse, and also engage in random and for-cause testing of existing employees while employed, smaller businesses are often unable to afford this kind of testing or consider it to be a lower business priority. As a result, individuals with substance abuse problems are more likely to seek employment in small businesses, often after having been rejected by larger employers for positive tests. These individual have learned that there is less likelihood of their being tested by small businesses prior to being hired and/or tested randomly after being hired.
In fact, the "2014 HireRight Small Business Spotlight" report found that only two-thirds (68 percent) of small business respondents to a survey reported that they performed drug and/or alcohol testing on all employees. "For small businesses, a bad hire represents a greater proportional cost for the organization than that of large enterprises, since every key employee has a huge impact on the business and its customers," said Rachel Trindade, vice president of marketing for HireRight.
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While positive rates for illegal drug use average about 3.7 percent for employees working for employers of all sizes (see Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index data below), rates for employees working for small employers are almost three times as high. That is, according to a 2014 study conducted by Employers Holdings, Inc., one in ten small businesses had employees show up for work the previous year while under the influence of at least one controlled substance, with small business owners reporting that alcohol, marijuana, and prescription pain killers were the most common substances used by these employees. (Specific numbers were 5.3% for alcohol, 5.1% for marijuana or prescription painkillers, and 1.1% for other illicit narcotics.) "Business owners today are rightfully concerned about the use of illegal or judgment-impairing substances in their workplaces," said Stephen V. Festa, chief operating officer for Employers Holdings. "It's a disturbing trend that we have seen developing over the past several years, with the rise in prescription opiods and the increasing legalization of marijuana."
The problem is indeed growing. According to a September 2014 press release from Quest Diagnostics, a company that, among other things, provides workplace drug testing, the percentage of positive drug tests among American workers increased last year for the first time in over a decade, fueled by a rise in marijuana and amphetamines, according to an analysis of 8.5 million urine, oral fluid and hair workplace drug test results.
The Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index showed that the positivity rate for 7.6 million urine drug tests in the combined U.S. workforce increased from 3.5 percent in 2012 to 3.7 percent in 2013. "The relative increase of 5.7 percent year-over-year is the first time the positivity rate for combined national workplace urine drug tests has increased since 2003," said a Quest Diagnostics press release. "This increase indicates that employers should be aware of the potential for drug use by their workers and the risk that represents for the health and safety of their employees and the public."
Quest Diagnostics noted that marijuana continues to be the most commonly detected illicit drug, with an increase from 1.6 percent in 2012 to 1.7 percent in 2013. Detected use of amphetamines, particularly methamphetamines, increased from 0.77 percent to 0.85 percent. "Amphetamines positivity rates are now at their highest levels on record, and methamphetamine positivity rates are at their highest levels since 2007," according to the Quest Diagnostics press release.
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