Talking Talent

With an estimated 62 per cent of drug and alcohol abusers in Australia in full-time employment, equating to 300,000 Australian workers, the effects of drugs and alcohol represent a substantial source of risk in the workplace – not to mention diminished productivity.

It’s hard to measure the full economic cost, but the expense of absenteeism, injuries, health insurance claims, loss of productivity, employee morale, theft and fatalities are considerable. According to America’s National Clearinghouse for Alcohol and Drug Information alcohol and drug users:

• Are far less productive
• Use three times as many sick days
• Are more likely to injure themselves or someone else
• Are five times more likely to file worker’s compensation claims.

One survey found that nine per cent of heavy drinkers and 10 per cent of drug users had missed work because of a hangover, six per cent had gone to work high or drunk in the past year, and 11 per cent of heavy drinkers and 18 per cent of drug users had skipped work in the past month.

What can employers do?

The best approach is a pro-active approach.  While some companies are going as far as banning Friday night drinks, you don’t need to be so draconian.  There are two simple things you can do:

• Ensure your company has drug and alcohol policies in the workplaces and
• Guide employees towards services that help them with the drug and/or alcohol dependency problems.

Develop a workplace culture by educating your workers to be prepared to encourage each other to remain sober at work.

Ensure your employees are aware of the need to refer incidents likely to pose a safety hazard to their supervisor and if the problem is ongoing to the chairperson of the OHS committee.

Publicise the workplace policy and provide a suitable information and education program for all your staff.

Substance dependencies can constitute disabilities, lawyers warn. As such, it is important to make carefully considered decisions about disciplining affected employees.

Skills are ‘the new black’, and retaining them must become an integral part of the way that we think about sustainable industry practice.

When we think of sustainability, we usually think of factors such as energy and lighting. But there are two clear threats to the sustainability of Australia’s many industry segments: an increasingly competitive labour market and the imminent retirement of the baby boomer generation.

They are a potent combination, and potentially lethal to the skills that many of Australia’s industries rely on.

There will be no ‘one size fits all’ solution to the problems that these factors are creating for employers across the country. However, the principles will be the same for all levels of business: if these challenges are to be successfully navigated we need strong leadership and integrated programs that will transform the nature of workplaces.

On this note, I read recently that the Australian Government put an end to tax payer funded massage for public servants. The interesting question is: why was it deemed to be a good investment in the first place? It seems a fair guess that this was a strategy is to counter the effects of a stressful workplace.

A ’sick’ workplace, both environmentally and managerially, has become too common in modern business, and the effects are now beginning to be well documented.  Job stress – which one Victorian study defines as “the combination of high job demands and low job control” – takes an enormous toll on employees where it becomes entrenched. The study concluded that job stress is in fact “a substantial public health problem” that significantly contributes to cardio vascular disease and depression in the community.

Other studies assert that a significant driver of stress in the workplace comes from management bullying and harassment. Estimates of the amount of time spent by managers resolving conflict in the workplace can range up to a staggering 90 per cent.

These are expensive problems for employers – but far worse when you consider the cost to our most precious resource, a skilled workforce.

The unhealthy workplace is a strong driver of absenteeism: one in five sick days can be attributed to stress, not illness, and emotional factors account for up to 61 per cent of lost time through absence. Worse still, these issues are among the most significant factors in high staff turnover and separation. Can your business really afford this?