Kashif Nazir Pandit
Everyone needs to unwind from the stresses of work, but faced with an increasingly uncomfortable reality, many will begin to want to escape. Ignoring the signs of drug or alcohol addiction isn’t an option in the workplace, suggests a leading surgeon namely Dr. Nadeem Niyaz Jan. Anyone who ever felt the modern workplace could not get any more pressurised will be disabused by a quick glance at the newspapers. Collapsing financial markets, rising unemployment and overwhelming personal debt are rolling together into one of the deepest recessions in living memory. Many employees now face the classic double whammy so characteristic of all economic downturns: mounting pressure to perform combined with the descending threat of redundancy. Even those whose jobs are secure face rising living costs, diminished resources and unfamiliar feelings of insecurity. Everyone needs to unwind from the stresses of work, but faced with an increasingly uncomfortable reality, many will begin to want to escape. And for increasing numbers, that desire to get away from real life will eventually pave the way for addiction. Addiction is often felt most strongly in the family, but it also reverberates powerfully in the workplace, where it erodes morale, undermines teamwork and damages performance. The addicted employee presents a uniquely complex set of challenges to managers, some of whom will try and avoid the issue altogether. Given the rising number of alcohol and drugs addicts, however, it is a problem that is not going away any time soon. We must understand the primary threat. While it’s important not to be alarmist about addiction, the statistics make troubling reading. According to a several reports released nearly 34% of the Indian workforce say they combat stress by drinking more. Earlier this year, a survey by Norwich Union Risk Services concluded that drink was the “number one threat to employee wellbeing” in this country. One in three employees admitted they had been to work with a hangover and more than 15% had been drunk at their desks. Some 85% of those who admitted to having a hangover or being drunk at work said that their concentration, performance and mood had been affected, that they had been more than usually tired and that they had done the minimum amount of work possible. Industries that were identified as being most at risk include the media (four times the national average), construction, professional and business services, and information technology. According to figures from the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and the World Health Organisation (WHO), between 60% and 70% of people with alcohol or drug-related problems are in full-time employment. That means that the vast majority of alcoholics and drug addicts are not lying around dirty bedsits getting off their heads. They are in the office, on the shop floor or behind the wheel.
Once a manager has identified that an employee may have an addiction problem, it is vital to take action. Letting the problem fester will only make things worse by reinforcing the addict’s belief that no one has noticed what is going on. Managers should make sure they understand their company’s drug and alcohol policy before speaking to an employee. If the company does not have such a policy, this should be raised with the HR manager as soon as possible.
The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development estimated last year that only one-third of all employers were training managers in how to manage the misuse of drugs and alcohol in the workplace. A mere 22% were training employees in these issues and only 12% had actually referred employees with drug problems to specialist treatment and rehabilitation. It seems that organisations are in a mode of denial. Why do employers have such difficulty with tackling addiction? One of the key reasons is that it can be incredibly difficult to spot. The drunken office worker lurching back from lunch is easily recognisable, but for the most part, addiction is linked to secretive behaviour, largely due to the high levels of shame that most sufferers feel. Addiction can surface in almost any activity which allows people to escape from life and its problems, so while dramatic substance abuse will eventually be hard to hide, there are many behaviours that will be difficult for a manager to identify. Few employees will sit around talking about how much money they are losing on internet gambling sites, or how many prostitutes they have visited in the past month, or indeed how many times they have made themselves throw up after lunch in the office toilet. Managers are understandably reluctant to get involved in extremely painful and personal areas of people’s lives for many reasons. There is fear about that which they do not understand, worry that they might get dragged into problems that they can do nothing about or even hesitation to give someone a dressing down for behaviour that they too indulge in. There is a tremendous amount of misunderstanding surrounding addiction. Much of that is linked to behaviours that are supposedly “fun”. Humour can be used as a powerful defence against uncomfortable feelings, so colleagues can all have a laugh at stories of drunken adventures. But it takes a sensitive manager to see through the jokes to the underlying reality. It is critically important for managers to realise that addiction is almost always a symptom of something else. Addictive behaviour is invariably driven by an underlying trauma, fear or insecurity that makes the person concerned unable to face reality. This means that before managers consider disciplinary procedures, they must always think of the addict first and foremost as someone in need of understanding and help. There are many ways that an employer might begin to establish whether or not an employee has addiction problems. In terms of work performance, an employee may find it difficult to concentrate at work, make decisions or remember simple instructions. They may well start habitually arriving late, leaving early or calling in sick. Reasons given for sick leave can start becoming suspicious and unlikely. Alternatively, the employee may well be getting genuinely sick, but coming down with ailments – especially colds, flu or stomach problems – much more often. In terms of behaviour and appearance, employers need to look out for sudden changes. Irritability and mood swings are characteristic of addict behaviour, as are depression, confusion and evasiveness. Outbursts of anger and arguments with colleagues and managers are often a sign that things are going wrong. Addicts also often oscillate between rebellion and hostility to authority on the one hand and compliance and people-pleasing on the other. Once a manager has identified that an employee may have an addiction problem, it is vital to take action. Letting the problem fester will only make things worse by reinforcing the addict’s belief that no one has noticed what is going on. Managers should make sure they understand their company’s drug and alcohol policy before speaking to an employee. If the company does not have such a policy, this should be raised with the HR manager as soon as possible. According to occupational health authors David Snashall and Dipti Patel, employers can intervene where addiction is having a demonstrable negative impact on performance. But human resources experts say that it’s often best not to refer to the suspected addiction straightaway, but to talk instead about the erratic behaviour and performance worries. It is also crucial not to criticise or judge the employee, but offer a sympathetic ear to whatever difficulties they may be experiencing. That way trust can be established before the thornier issue of addiction is broached. Finally, any discussion needs to be followed up with a concrete plan of action. If an employee is willing to seek help, the manager can signpost them to HR and occupational health for more information. A follow-up meeting needs to be arranged to monitor progress, but it’s important that the manager is not dragged into some kind of quasi-therapeutic role.There are professionals who can help the addict. If the employee refuses help and continues with the behaviour, the manager then needs to consider disciplinary action. But despite the fears that these encounters can trigger, most addicts just want to be able to talk to someone. Addiction is an escalating problem in the modern Indian workplace. But sensitivity and support, combined with careful thinking and a rigorous policy, will go a long way to tackling it.
(The author is Member International Institute of Risk and Safety Management- MIIRSM) is an innovative, results-orientated Health, Safety & Environment Leader with a successful record of executing robust global Occupational Safety strategies at leading companies including Saudi Aramco, Sabic, Adnoc Marafiq&Saudi Electricity Company . He is currently working in tunnelling Projects with B.C.C as Senior HSE Manager on UBRL project).