Employee Productivity: Aligning to a Systematic Company Culture - Essay Sample

Introduction

Employee productivity is highly emphasized in the workplace, and the employees must then align to a systematic culture of the organization to ensure the company environment is comfortable for working. Employee efficiency is firmly attached to both skills and expertise in various fields in a company. Any deviation from one of the employees in a particular company can lead to awry, and it affects the company holistically. It is thereby a responsibility for every company to ensure that the employees follow the rules and regulations. It is ordered to catapult it in soaring to the greater heights. This paper provides a detailed overview as to why drug testing is vital in the workplace and the background of the issue. It also encompasses the history of drug testing in the workplace and a solution to prevent any probable drug abuse in the organization. The issue of drug testing in workplaces is essential since drug abuse is a root cause of decreased productivity and the general performance in the business setting. Additionally, the issue of addiction in the workplace may require intervention by the healthcare sector. Moreover, the fight on drug use in the workplace is a strategy of reducing drug use in the country.

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The issue in most cases occurs as a result of the issues which may either vary from a personal, company dimension, or as a result of the impelling force of doing something new. Drug use in the company disrupts the tranquility that exists within the company as well as its external environment. Drug use in the workplace also destroys the good reputation of the company. It often results in the escalation of unnecessary issues that could otherwise be prevented and addressed instantly by the alignment of conflict management approaches. Thereby, drug use in the company retards the general processes of the company. It is also known to destroy the holistic decline in the value of the overall output. The managers and other vital personnel have to be keen and cautious in conjunction with the HR team. Such efforts propel the company to a state of outshining its competitors in the market.

History and Background of the Issue

Workplace drug testing traces its history after the Vietnam War. The president of the United States, Richard Nixon, came up with legit programs of drug testing in the entire country. There was an impelling force that catapulted in the testing of urine. Reagan's administration recommended the issue of drug testing for the employee being an important segment of drug culmination and mitigation approach in 1986. It was a prerequisite requirement that any business organization which had acquired a license from the government on funds amounting to $25,000 incorporates free drug testing in the workplace within its environment. Embedded within the Omnibus Transportation Employee Act of 1991 is a directory move of testing employees commuting and working in different modes of transport, which encompasses mass transit and pipeline channels (Rothstein,1991).

Some of the industries that plunged into the use of then practice include Federal motor carrier safety Administration, federal aviation administration, federal railway administration, and maritime. The government began in the provision of discounts on the annual insurance premiums on the companies with drug-free programs in their workplace. There has been a significant decrease in the positive drug test since the program was incorporated in workplaces; thus, productivity has been seen immensely increasing.

The employees have been seen abusing drugs, which proportionately results in a decrease in workplace productivity. Drug testing in the workplace is a vital measure that allows for testing drugs in the workplace is to deter the employees from proceeding with the abuse of alcohol and any other drug that topples the general progress of the company. The common drug that most of the employee's abuse in most cases includes THC and alcohol. There have been some positive cases of marijuana use in many companies in the United States over a long period. It renders the employees unable to perform their real talks with their normal level of performance. It is also geared at demarcating the recruitment of employees known to abuse illegal drugs. Workplace safety is also an impelling force to the execution of the program in the workplace. Employees have an entitled right to working in a safe environment. Each company has been given a legal requirement of safety and health policy. Such policies are vital since it contributes a lot to the reduction of unnecessary accidents while at the same time managing the probable consequences (Pidd, Roche, 2014). If the employees are executing the work of operating machinery in the company, there are high chances of accident occurrence since drugs impair judgment.

Besides, it contributes to improving work quality, which is vital in the workplace since it propels the company to attain an impressive image in the market. Product quality acts as bait in attracting the new customers while facilitative a wave of new referrals following the satisfaction of the consumers. The company must then ensure that the best is gained out of the program.

Furthermore, the practice is done with a view of lowering then employee turnover in the workplace. Pre-employment screening is vital in the company because it harbors the recruitment of problematic employees and hence minimizing the chances of replacing work gaps in the company. The practice at the same time allows for the lowering of costs that would rather be incurred due to the mandatory health insurance. The accidents that would occur are reduced, hence no extra costs that would be experienced. It is also vital in the sense that it promotes a more productive workplace. The individuals known to be abusing various drugs in different forms are perceived to be less productive than those who do not abuse. They are known to be having less concentration, thus the inability to complete the scheduled tasks in time. Holistically, it results in the inefficiency and the incurrence of extra costs because of the longer duration it takes.

Consequentially, it is done for the reduction of recruitment costs. It is because there is greater retention of staff hence obscuring in the costs that could otherwise be incurred while recruiting new personnel. Training of the employees comes with hefty costs; thus, drug testing is essential in terms of company progression. It is also aimed at the reduction of conflicts that can arise due to drug use in the workplace. The employees can engage in physical fights, which ultimately lead to injuries, unnecessary damages, and losses. Not only does the program protect the employees but also the potential customers and the general public.

Drug testing in a workplace is extensively conducted under a vast range of circumstances in an organization. The practice is first executed during the pre-employment stage. It is essentially done in the prevention of hiring individuals abusing the drugs illegally (McDaniel, 1988). It takes place immediately after a conditional employment offer though sometimes it might be difficult since the employees with the ingenuity stop abusing drugs for some time before undergoing the mandatory test. There also some acts that prohibit pre-employment alcohol tests such as the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990.

Additionally, drug testing occurs after a reasonable suspicion. An individual showing the signs of drug abuse undergoes the test and thus termed to have violated the workplace policy. It is usually recommended that workplace policy violators do not return to work while waiting for the results to be announced. Post-accident is also done following the occurrence of an accident resulting in the damage of property and personal injury. It is used in the determination of the cause of the accident (Marques, 2014). The objective criteria that will propel the post-accident test must be in place at the right time. The employees associated with the previous accidents in the company are discouraged from working.

The drug substances remain in the body of an individual for some particular period before it is eliminated. It is thereby recommended that post-accident testing done within 12 hours span. Substantial random testing is done in the workplace without any formal or informal announcement. It is a computer-generated approach without favoring anybody. This method thereby acts as a determent method of making employees shun from the use of drugs. There are various methods of drug testing in the company where one of them is the saliva test.

Some of the businesses that are associated with many cases of employee turnover use saliva or swab test method. Urine testing is another simple method where the urine is used as an indicator of the presence of drug metabolites. The presence of the metabolites is not necessarily a shred of evidence that the victim must have consumed the drug at that particular time. The method, at some point, may not result in the postage of positive results since the urine is collected privately (Casolin, 2016).

Approaches

There is some robust solution that can be applied to curbing the problem in the workplace. One of the effective approaches that can be used is the education of employees. Some of the employees will align with the rules and regulations as per the company's act flawlessly. At the same time, others would like to first understand the reason behind the rules before getting committed. It will provide a solid understanding of the company's policy and thus feel empowered in making sound mind and good choices. Providing a detailed understanding of the dangers associated with drug abuse can also assist in the reduction of drug abuse. The education that is carried out must be catching the attention of the employees and done in a friendly manner so that the outcome comes reasonably.

It is also vital to ensure that the supervisor training approach is adopted. The managers have to be having the latest updates on the policies and understand the potential of the impairment and the drug testing scope. Non-medical use of drugs is not acceptable at any point and thus taken to be illegal drug abuse. The managers must also understand all the acts that inhibit drug testing. The supervisors have also entitled an important task of giving out positive feedback, which encompasses a safe, productive, and healthy environment.

Lastly, there is the essence of a company to lobby business groups belonging to a particular group. Such companies must consider offering training in a given vicinity in the fight against workplace addiction and enabling the employees with the needs they want. Business leaders are collaboratively brought together. The employees must thereby be fully convinced in taking action.

Group Support/Non-Support

In a workplace, there is coordination in terms of effort pooling in the quest against drug abuse. There are professional and non-professional groups that contribute fundamentally. The HRM team plays a fundamental role in ensuring that drug abuse is mitigated by following some procedures that seem mere but assist greatly. The HR team must also bear in mind of who and when to test for substance abuse. The general form that they always conduct a pre-employment test, thus saving the company from incurring extra and unnecessary costs. The current tests in staffing agency drug tests is a requirement that every individual recruit must undergo a testing process and thereby must exhibit negative results for successful recruitment. If the HR team lags in addressing the issue, there will be a significant wave in general production and performance.

There is also a need for the HR...