An essential part of business success is the employees who do the hard work gracefully and stay loyal to the company’s cause. However, sometimes employees get unreliable, disorganized, and fail to maintain positive productivity levels. They are often many reasons for this, and for managers or business owners, the implications are not always great.
While sacking unproductive employees may be the best solution, getting to the root of the problem is crucial for the employer-employee relationship. One cause of employee-related issues that may need your concern and input is substance abuse. Addiction is a health problem, as any illness is, and may have physical and cognitive effects on your employee.
The first step to successfully beating their addiction is abstinence and recovery from the substance abuse. While your employee is in recovery, how may you be of help? What are some of the ideas you can put into practice and help elevate your employee to a substance-free life?
1- Offering Unconditional Company
The employer and workmates being present to an employee in recovery help them shake off the idea that it’s them against the world. Addiction can cause someone to be seclusive and lack confidence when around people. Having positive energy around recovering employees might offset any relapse ideas or moments.
2- Being Supportive
Support to recovering workers can come in my forms. Employers can offer help by seeking professional services or living programs that deal with addiction. In addition, business owners should consider forming employee assistance programs.
Employee assistance programs cater to the wellness of your employees. They help employees deal with addiction and mental health problems that influence productivity. The programs offer counseling, therapy, or other means of support for its employees’ mental or social struggles.
3- Work Assistance from Fellow Employees
Fellow workmates can also offer a helping hand to a recovering employee. Employees in recovery may need some time or space during the day to ground themselves.
Such help takes off the pressure to see through substance withdrawal symptoms and staying productive. Words of encouragement and giving recovering employees company may also go a long way in pushing them forward to recovery.
4- Offer Accommodation Support
In America, addiction is viewed as a disability, and thus employers are required to provide accommodation for its victims. The accommodation allows a recovering employee to be stationed in a workplace that suits their current state.
With the necessary accommodations in place, a recovering worker can integrate themselves back to work. Some examples of accommodations include:
- Allowing remote working on some days
- Regular breathing space or break from work
- Support animals
- Routine interactions to check on their progress
5- Creating Legitimacy in The Workplace
Legitimacy in the workplace means creating a work environment that values its employees as being correct. It helps shape the perspective that your employees can be free and act like themselves. For a recovering worker, this is especially important.
Legitimacy creates an open and transparent work environment. Recovering employees can freely share their experiences, challenges and not face negative repercussions or stigma. In addition, it also allows your employee to do what suits their recovery phase best, for instance, taking breathing or meditation breaks during the day.
6- Creating Awareness in The Workplace
Business owners should look to introduce learning spaces to their supervisors or managers. That allows the leaders in the work environment to spot signs of addiction and have the know-how to handle such situations. Creating this awareness opens everyone in the workplace towards treating employees in recovery with love and helping them beat substance abuse.
7- Provide Guidance and Be Responsible
Drug abuse results from different triggers from stress to leisure, and as such relapsing back to substance abuse can happen fast. Therefore, you should stay on the lookout for employees in recovery and be responsible for them. You may do this by ensuring drug tests are carried out and that they never skip rehabilitation or counseling programs.
