Joe’s Story: Pathways to Addiction at Work
Joe, a skilled construction worker, has always been known for his dedication and hard work on the job. Living in Saint Louis, he followed in his father's footsteps, building a career as an ironworker. However, his life began to take a different turn due to his alcohol use, affecting not only his work but also his relationships and personal well-being.
Joe's company often hosted a daily happy hour with a free-flowing keg, where unlimited drinks were available, and happy hour often spilled into late nights at the bar. Initially, these events were a way for Joe to relax and bond with his teammates. However, the culture of heavy drinking quickly became a problem for him. As the nights of excessive drinking became more frequent, Joe started arriving at work hungover, which affected his productivity and concentration. His once impeccable safety record began to suffer, and he narrowly avoided several accidents on the construction site.
Joe's supervisor, who had noticed his declining performance, gave him a warning. Despite this, the pressure to fit in and the normalization of heavy drinking at work events made it difficult for Joe to cut back. His coworkers often teased him for trying to abstain, and the peer pressure was intense. Joe felt isolated and struggled to maintain his professionalism, leading to increased stress and anxiety.
Chery’s Story: Excluding Workers in Long-Term Recovery
Cheryl, a dedicated nurse at a bustling hospital, has been in long-term recovery from alcohol addiction for several years. Her journey to sobriety was challenging, but she emerged stronger and more committed to her career and personal growth.
The hospital where Cheryl works hosts various social events throughout the year, with the holiday party being the most anticipated. These events are seen as a way for the staff to unwind and celebrate their hard work. While her colleagues eagerly look forward to these parties, Cheryl is filled with anxiety and trepidation.
Despite her achievements and the respect she has earned at work, Cheryl feels out of place during these events. The focus on drinking makes it difficult for her to participate fully and enjoy herself. She often opts to skip the hospital parties altogether, choosing instead to spend time with friends who understand and support her recovery. While these gatherings are enjoyable, Cheryl still feels a pang of sadness and exclusion from not being able to join her work colleagues in their celebrations.
Recognizing the need for a more inclusive approach to workplace events, Cheryl decides to speak up. She approaches her supervisor and shares her experiences and concerns about the focus on alcohol at these gatherings. She suggests implementing more inclusive activities and offering a wider variety of non-alcoholic beverages. She also proposes organizing events that do not center around drinking, such as holiday potlucks, game nights, or charity drives.
Does your workplace or work climate have a permissive substance use culture?
How does this impact your worker productivity and safety?
Do your workers in long-term recovery feel included in your social activities?
Pathways to building a recovery-supportive workplace
Lately, I’ve been tracking the rise of recovery-supportive workplaces that rely on evidence-based practices to support employees in treatment and recovery. At a top level, recovery-supportive environments help employers:
Understand all forms of addiction (e.g., drugs and alcohol, gambling, etc.) and substance use disorders and their impact on employees struggling to overcome it.
Improve morale and job satisfaction.
Reduce absenteeism and presenteeism.
Comply with laws and regulations related to substance abuse.
Create a safer work environment.
Improve the company’s reputation as an inclusive and vibrant place to work.
My curiosity about this trend came into play during an interview on my podcast with Dr. Joel Bennett, president and founder of Organizational Wellness & Learning Systems (OWLS), a consulting firm specializing in evidence-based wellness technologies to promote organizational health and employee well-being. Our discussion helps shed light on why this trend is growing and how organizations such as yours can incorporate it into your health and safety program.
The cost of Substance Use Disorders (SUD) to industry
It is well established that there is a connection between substance use, mental health issues, and the impact on workplace productivity and safety. With that in mind, according to federal data, nearly 27 million workers in the U.S. aged 18 or older had a substance use disorder (SUD), with 21 million of those being full-time employees.
As Dr. Bennett and I discuss, certain industries, such as construction, have particularly high rates of past-month heavy alcohol use among full-time workers (16.5%), and one in six construction workers reported observing coworkers visibly under the influence of alcohol at work. The hospitality and food services industry also have high rates of past-month illicit drug use (19.1%) and past-year substance use disorder (16.9%).
Untreated SUD in workers is associated with missed workdays, reduced productivity, increased disability, and higher health care and turnover costs. Substance misuse also can lead to increased mental health concerns, such as stress and anxiety due to fear of stigma and discrimination in the workplace. As a result, employees may hide their SUD rather than seek help, leading to further mental health deterioration and poor work performance.
The federal Recovery-Ready Workforce Interagency reports that the estimated average per capita annual cost of employees with untreated SUD ranges from $2,689 in agriculture to $13,534 in the information and communications industry.
By comparison, this Recovery-Ready Workforce group reports a substantial return on investment for companies that adopt recovery-ready workplace policies. For each employee in recovery, estimated annual savings to employers range from $1,155 annually per capita in agriculture to $8,466 per capita in the information and communications sector.
Rise of recovery-supportive policies
The rise of recovery-supportive programs is due largely in part to the Biden administration’s emphasis on reversing the opioid epidemic’s deleterious effect on Americans, and its economic burden on employers and the broader economy. Because virtually all untreated mental health concerns can be risk factors for suicide, and since approximately 80% of all people who die by suicide are of working age (ages 18-65), the workplace is the ideal place for programs of mental health education and prevention.
Effective implementation of recovery-supportive workplace policies begins with support from leadership to conduct organizational assessments, especially of your organization’s policies and practices around alcohol use during work-related social events and activities. These audits help identify which policies may need to be changed so they do not make things worse for employees with SUDs.
Table courtesy of The Colorado Recovery Friendly Workplace Toolkit
Leading risk factor
Dr. Bennett shared that among the leading indicators at the group level of there being a risk of mental health concerns among employees at an organization was a culture that normalizes alcohol use.
“Often, when you have those permissive drinking norms, somebody at very high risk gets to hide,” Dr. Bennett told me. “It can be very subtle. Maybe it’s that we all just go out on a Friday night, but it’s a slippery slope.”
We then discussed how not addressing SUDs can demoralize staff by eroding morale and psychological safety in the workplace, especially if the person with the untreated SUD is abusive to others.
Being a recovery-supportive organization requires high levels of trust from employees. When workers trust their employer to address their concerns ethically, they are more likely to seek help for SUD from workplace resources and feel comfortable disclosing their recovery status.
“You cannot address the risk factor without also developing a protective factor,” Dr. Bennett warned. The key, he said, is in the organizational wellness climate. “You need a low drinking climate and high protective wellness,” he said.
Recovery-supportive solutions
What are the keys to creating a high protective wellness environment? Rather than a “check the box” mentality that creates an inventory of employee assistance resources, but doesn’t back them up with engaged and committed leadership, the most important step is to create a foundation of integrity.
“That takes all the responsibility off the hands of leadership,” Dr. Bennett said. “You have to sit down with employees, and with HR in the room, and make it safe to talk about these things, as a leader who walks the talk, to share their own story, and who expresses vulnerability.”
I call it the “broken person” syndrome, where rather than honestly evaluate the work environment, leadership essentially shifts blame for any toxicity of culture onto the workers by saying that because EAP exists in the company, if workers are struggling, it must be their own fault.
There is more to it, of course, and for that I have put together a new 90 minute workshop:
Pathways to Productive and Healthy Workplaces: Navigating Substance Use Harm Reduction and Addiction
Thursday, August 8
1PM to 2:30PM EDT
It’s where my colleague Gina Vanderham and I will address the benefits of recovery-supportive work environments, and will address how substance use disorders manifest in the workplace, while also discussing the concepts of recovery and harm reduction. We will explore how workplaces can both help and hinder individuals living with substance use disorders, helping you to identify any blind spots in your current wellness programs. The program is priced below its actual value, just $49.99 before July 26. After that, $69.99. You can easily register here.
Creating a recovery-supportive work environment helps enhance your organization’s overall health and safety, while moving the solutions to mental health concerns in your workforce from the individual level to the environmental one, which is easier for an organization to control for optimal outcomes. Doing so promotes psychological safety, team cohesion, and a wellness-oriented climate. For more information or to register for the workshop, contact Chase Plank: chase@sallyspencerthomas.com
Center for Behavioral Health Statistics and Quality. Results from the 2021 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: Detailed tables. Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration. 2022. Table 5.7A, p. 835.
Roche AM, Chapman J, Duraisingam V, Phillips B, Finnane J, Pidd K. Construction workers' alcohol use, knowledge, perceptions of risk and workplace norms. Drug and alcohol review. 2020;39(7):941-949. doi:https://doi.org/10.1111/dar.13075​:citation[oaicite:0]{index=0}​.
Busch, D., Lipari, RN. Substance Use and Substance Use Disorder by Industry. Short Report, HHS. 2015
Federal Recovery-Ready Workplace Interagency Workgroup. Recovery-Ready Workplace Toolkit: Guidance and Resources for Private and Public Sector Employers. 2023. www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/RRW-hub/Toolkit