Look Who’s Talking:
Addiction in the Workplace – Dealing with Employment Addictions with CADAS at Work Leigh Williams | CEO at CADAS
Most people have some form of dependency – what’s yours? Do you need a strong coffee to kickstart the day, or is a glass of wine or beer essential after a stressful day? Perhaps it’s chocolate biscuits, vaping or smoking, or checking social media on your phone multiple times a day?
E
ven though most of us have some form of habitual dependency, if the doctor told us to stop drinking coffee to lower our blood pressure or if we misplaced our mobile phone for a week, we might feel a bit grumpy but we’d be okay.
When dependency becomes an addiction, there are serious health implications – often both mental and physical. The direct impact for employers includes absenteeism, workplace accidents, exposure to legal risk and poor productivity. According to The Addiction Helper, 70% of substance users are in fulltime employment.
bluestreamacademy.com
Government statistics state that alcohol misuse among employees costs up to £7.3 billion in lost productivity through increased absenteeism, unemployment and premature death. We are all aware that employers have a corporate responsibility to look after the health and wellbeing of their workforce, but how many take this seriously? The majority of employers and managers turn a blind eye, leading to thousands of people going to work every day under the influence of drugs or alcohol. Many of these people are driving, working at height or
in safety-critical roles, putting themselves, their colleagues and the wider public in danger. What’s more, addictions in the UK are currently rising. Two reasons for this are an increase in poor mental health since the COVID-19 pandemic, and longer NHS waiting lists. Longer waiting lists are leading to people living with pain for extended periods and therefore finding ways to soothe themselves; for example, by drinking, overusing prescription medication and using drugs. Continued on page 18
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