Build a Team

Every workplace is a unique and complex community. Not only do workplaces differ in purpose, size, structure, workload, legal and safety requirements, and resources. But they also have different organizational cultures, values, ways of working, stressors, and ways of coping with stress. Every workplace has its own challenges related to health and wellness and is affected to a different degree by substance abuse problems that may put workers at risk, damage employee morale, harm the organization’s public image, decrease productivity, and affect the bottom line.

A one-size-fits-all approach cannot be used to produce a drug-free workplace policy and program that will fit every work setting, any more than a one-size-fits-all approach can be used to produce a pair of shoes that will fit every worker. Each business or organization must customize its drug-free workplace policy and program (with or without the help of outside special consultants), so that it can meet its legal and safety requirements, reflect the characteristics of its employees, and enhance the image and values of the organization.

Why build a team?

Cooperation, collaboration, and shared responsibility are the cornerstones of a successful drug-free workplace policy and program. Whenever possible, it is better to build consensus about the policy and program by seeking input from your employees, right from the beginning. “When you have the workplace involved—when people are looking out for you—you’ve got a better chance to recover; it’s that simple,” says workplace substance abuse researcher William Sonnenstuhl.[1] Further, if employees participate in the process of developing and implementing the policy and program, they may feel a sense of ownership for these and be more likely to comply with the requirements.

In addition, designing and implementing an effective drug-free workplace policy and program is not a one-person job—every CEO or business owner needs help. You must have

• Sound information so that your policy and program address the right problems in the right ways. Substance use problems can take many forms. Some are easier to spot, while others may be hidden and may not look like substance abuse at all. Unless the workplace is very small, it is unlikely that any one person would have all the answers about the nature and extent of substance use concerns and how best to handle them. It is more likely that everyone in your workplace has a piece of the substance abuse puzzle.
  
  
• Ongoing worker support for your policy and program to prevent substance use problems among your employees, and to increase the likelihood that those with substance use problems use your program to get the help they need.

Workers who understand and support your drug-free workplace policy and program are much more likely to comply with the policy, to help coworkers comply, to use the program themselves, and to encourage others to do so. Meaningfully involving employees from the beginning in developing your policy and designing and implementing your program is a fail-safe strategy for motivating them to support the program, and to motivate their coworkers.

Involving your employees does not mean that you sacrifice your executive authority. On the contrary, you keep your executive authority and you also enter into a productive partnership, to gain the invaluable assistance, information, insights, ideas, experience, and support that employees, supervisors, managers, and union officials can provide.

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Is a team necessary?

A unilateral or “administration centered” approach emphasizes executive authority as the key to compliance.[2] This approach works from the top down: the CEO or business owner issues a policy directive unilaterally, without soliciting and incorporating input from your employees.

If your employees are unionized, you cannot use a unilateral approach. The National Labor Relations Act requires that your collective bargaining agreement cover working terms and conditions; a drug-free workplace policy and program falls under this requirement.[3] You must bargain with the unions regarding the drug-free workplace policy and program, and enlist their cooperation and support.[4]

If your employees are not unionized, a more unilateral approach may be appropriate in special situations such as the following:

• A policy must be put in place immediately to prevent serious consequences. For example, you just acquired a new company with a woefully inadequate drug-free workplace policy. The company lost two widely publicized lawsuits involving substance abuse–related accidents. The court now requires that your organization have an adequate policy fully operational in 10 days or pay a huge fine. Then it may be appropriate to move quickly without involving everyone.
  
  
• There are specific legal or safety requirements (or both). For example, if you have many employees in safety-sensitive positions, and if there are Federal and State laws and safety standards governing your industry that mandate that your workplace comply with extremely specific legal requirements and safety regulations, then you may need to move quickly and without full collaboration.
  
  
• Substance abuse is causing severe losses. For example, if highly publicized alcohol-related accidents have occurred at three of the organization’s sites, several large lawsuits are pending, scathing press coverage is contributing to low morale organizationwide, and productivity is plummeting, then again you may feel pressed to act quickly and without full participation.
  
  
• There is an immediate crisis. For example, if a) a devastating accident occurred last week across the street from your main office, b) it involved one of your employees who was high on cocaine (allegedly purchased from a coworker), and c) the employee who was high drove a company truck into the bay window of a fast-food restaurant (killing four teenagers), then again you may have to act quickly to ward off disastrous publicity and further risk to the safety of workers and others nearby.

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Under conditions such as these, you do not have the leeway to formulate your policy and program using a comprehensive team approach that involves a large group of employees meeting at regular intervals over an extended period. Instead, you may wish to convene a much smaller core team charged with working under a tight deadline to help you produce a drug-free workplace policy and program. Working with even a fast-moving team can take longer than working alone. However, you probably will be more satisfied with the outcomes, and your core team will likely be able to generate more worker support for the policy and program more rapidly.

On your core team, you may choose to include an outside expert such as specialized legal counsel or an organizational consultant experienced in advising organizations like yours regarding drug-free workplace policies and programs. Hiring a qualified outside consultant usually is well worth the investment: his or her specialized expertise and objectivity can help you avoid costly errors.

Unless your organization is in an emergency situation that calls for more unilateral decision-making, you probably will get the best results at the lowest cost by using a team-based or “employee centered” approach to develop your drug-free workplace policy and program. This strategy emphasizes workers’ active support and involvement as the key to compliance.[5] It harnesses the power of partnership: the CEO or business owner retains his or her executive authority but enlists the support of his or her workers to help create, put into place, and promote the policy and program.

The employee-centered approach is not a flaky “feel good” holdover from the 1960s. Studies show that it is good for the bottom line.

Operation RedBlock, for example, is a highly successful, labor-developed, management-supported, drug-free workplace program in the transportation industry.[6] Operation RedBlock has helped “curb drinking-related losses estimated at nearly $500 million annually through [reducing] absenteeism, lost productivity, injuries, damages, grievances, and other problems.”[7] Developed in the 1980s,[8] the program has since been adopted by at least 12 labor unions.[9] Operation RedBlock “aims to change attitudes, to reduce the tolerance of nonusers to job-related drug and alcohol use, and to encourage users to seek assistance.”[10] The program offers a safety net of peer and professional substance abuse treatment and prevention services. Major program elements include

• Support from regulatory agencies, management, and labor
  
  
• Prevention teams throughout the system
  
  
• Training in the prevention and intervention process for program team members
  
  
• An employee assistance program (EAP)
  
  
• A peer counselor program
  
  
• Collective bargaining agreements that give an employee the option of seeking help from the EAP rather than being investigated and dismissed
  
  
• A mark-off procedure that allows an impaired employee to take himself or herself off a work shift with no penalties and receive a follow-up intervention from a trained program team member[11]

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Who should be on your team?

Your team’s size and composition will depend on the numbers of employees on your payroll and how your organization is structured. If your organization is small, the team may consist of you and a point person. If your organization is quite big, you will need a larger team organized into subteams to ensure that all your job sites or divisions are represented.

Your team’s mission is to help you

1. Gain a complete understanding of substance use problems in your workplace and the best ways to address them
   
2. Develop, implement, and promote support for your drug-free workplace policy and program

Your team should include employees who

• Will give you reliable information about substance use problems (not just tell you what they think you want to hear)
  
  
• Are representative of the rest of your employees, reflecting their racial, ethnic, and cultural diversity
  
  
• Believe in the concept of a drug-free workplace policy and program as a strategy for making the workplace safe, protecting workers’ health, and increasing productivity
  
  
• Believe in encouraging coworkers to seek help for substance use–related problems
  
  
• Are trusted by you and the rest of your employees
  
  
• Communicate well
  
  
• Are knowledgeable about personnel issues in general and your personnel policies in particular
  
  
• Understand the legal and safety requirements relevant to your industry and the types of safety-sensitive job positions in your workplace

It is unlikely that everyone on your team will have all these characteristics. If your team as a whole exhibits these characteristics, you have chosen well. As applicable to your organization, you may wish to invite employees such as the following to serve on your team:

• CEO
• Executive managers
• Managers
• Supervisors · Union officials (if your employees are unionized)
• Other employee representatives (if your employees are not unionized or if some of them are not unionized)
• Director of your Human Resources or Personnel Department
• Directors of other key departments or functions such as Labor Relations, Security, Occupational Safety and Health, Medical Care, and Public Affairs
• In-house legal counsel
  

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In certain circumstances, you may wish to augment your team with an outside expert:

• Complex legal and safety requirements could indicate that you would benefit from retaining specialized outside legal counsel to help you develop and implement your drug-free workplace policy and program. For example, if you have five plants throughout the United States and five plants in foreign countries, and your workplace includes employees in many different safety-sensitive positions, then you may need to get legal advice to ensure that your drug-free workplace policy and program comply with the laws and safety regulations that apply in the various States in the United States and in the different foreign countries.
  
  
• A prospective lawsuit could suggest the need for specialized outside legal counsel. For example, if a) your organization recently acquired a new subsidiary in a different product area, b) substance use–related accidents and liability suits are commonplace in the subsidiary’s industry, and c) your organization has never had to deal with a drug-related lawsuit, then you may want to take all the right steps to prevent substance use–related accidents and lawsuits.
  
  
• An entrenched culture of substance abuse could indicate the need for assistance from an organization that has successfully addressed comparable issues through a drug-free workplace policy and program. For example, if several of your plants are located in a community where substance abuse (including of alcohol and marijuana) is widespread and, in addition, there is a culture of heavy drinking at those plants (employees routinely look the other way when lineworkers and supervisors report to work intoxicated or high), then you may want to seek advice from an organization that has successfully addressed similar issues.
  
  
• Conflict or lack of cooperation between the labor and management segments of your workforce could suggest a need for advice from a company (such as Amtrak) that has a longstanding drug-free workplace policy and program that is the product of a successful labor–management partnership. For example, if your organization needs a drug-free workplace policy and program, but the unions and management do not trust each other and cannot agree on critical issues, then Amtrak’s experience in getting unions and management to work well together may be a useful model.
  

The Drug-Free Workplace Kit can be a valuable resource if you decide to hire an outside expert to help you develop and put into place your policy and program. By familiarizing yourself with the Kit, you can gain a solid grasp of what is involved in developing and implementing an effective drug-free workplace policy and program. If you are working with a team, you can ask your team members to do the same. As a result, if you then do turn to a consultant, you will be a more informed consumer of the consultant’s services, and you will be in a much better position to make the best use of all that the consultant has to offer. You will be able to plan your work with the consultant more effectively, and you may well find that you accomplish a great deal more in much less time.

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What should your team do?

Your team should accomplish four major tasks:

1. Form as accurate and complete a picture as possible of the organization’s substance use problems by collecting information from your employees through informal discussions or meetings, simple anonymous surveys, review of nonconfidential organizational documents containing aggregated data (i.e., data that cannot be traced to an individual worker) regarding substance abuse–related accidents, review of press coverage (of any substance abuse–related accidents reported in local newspapers or other publications), and other appropriate, nonthreatening means.
   
   
2. Agree on the nature of the organization’s substance use problems.
   
   
3. Agree on the content and language of a drug-free workplace policy that will address these problems and meet applicable legal and safety requirements.
   
   
4. Agree on the elements of a drug-free workplace program and on the activities that will be performed to implement, promote, and evaluate the program.

How your team can best accomplish these tasks depends on many factors, including the number of people you employ, your organization’s structure, and other characteristics of your business. No single way is right for all situations. Here are a few examples of possible approaches:

• If your organization is small, you may wish to have all your employees serve on your team. You could appoint your human resources director or a senior manager or supervisor as your point person. You and your point person could hold a short meeting with all employees to announce your intention of developing a drug-free workplace policy and program, outline the rationale for the policy and program, and explain that you want everyone to participate in the process of developing and implementing the policy and program.
  
  Using this Kit as a guide, you and your point person could create a one-page anonymous survey consisting of key questions about substance use problems in your organization; other issues affecting worker safety, health, and productivity; and major elements of the organization’s drug-free workplace policy and program. Your point person could ask all employees to leave their completed anonymous surveys in a box provided for that purpose within 1 week.
  
  At the end of the 1-week period, you and your point person could review the surveys, summarize the responses, and meet with employees to review the survey results. At this meeting, your goal is to develop a consensus regarding the nature of the organization’s substance abuse concerns, and the best strategies for addressing them and meeting any applicable legal and safety requirements.
  
  You could meet briefly several more times with employees to gain agreement on the content and language of the drug-free workplace policy, the elements of the drug-free workplace program, and how the program will be implemented, promoted, and evaluated.
  
  
• If your organization is medium sized, you may appoint your human resources director as your point person. Your team also may include your senior supervisors and a union official. Your team could obtain information about substance abuse problems in your organization by disseminating a short, anonymous survey, reviewing relevant organizational documents, and reviewing press coverage of any substance abuse–related incidents. You could hold weekly meetings over a 2-month period to reach agreement on the substance use problems affecting your employees, the content and language of the drug-free workplace policy, the elements of the program, and how best to implement, promote, and evaluate the program.
  
  
• If your organization is large, you may designate a vice president or your human resources director as your point person. You could ask him or her to provide you with a plan of action for developing and implementing the policy and program, and a recommendation whether one or more outside experts should be hired to assist you. You also could ask your point person to give you suggestions regarding the composition, size, and structure of your team. If your organization includes multiple worksites, you should have at least one representative per worksite on your team.
  
  You could organize your core team into subteams and ask each team to take charge of one aspect of the drug-free workplace policy and program (for example, understanding legal and safety requirements, assessing substance use problems and identifying potential strategies for addressing them, developing the content and language for the drug-free workplace policy, identifying the elements of your drug-free workplace program, implementing and promoting the program, and evaluating the policy and program). Your point person or a subteam may obtain information about the organization’s substance abuse problems by disseminating a short anonymous survey to your employees, reviewing relevant organizational documents, and reviewing press coverage of substance abuse–related incidents. You could ask that the team meet every week or every other week until they have completed their tasks. Team members located offsite could join these meetings through conference calls.

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The issues of workplace substance abuse are complicated, and every organization has different concerns and needs. No one person has all the answers. Your drug-free workplace policy and program must, like a pair of shoes, be the right fit. You need your employees’ help to a) gain an accurate, complete understanding of the substance abuse issues in your workplace, b) plan and implement a responsive policy and program, and c) promote credible support for the policy and program.

Your team, whether it is large or small, is your most important asset for developing an effective drug-free workplace policy and program.

References

1. Tom Robbins. 2001. “Labor’s Loneliest Battles: New Survey Finds Union Self-Help Programs Point Way in Addiction Struggles.” The Village Voice, May 23–29.
   
2. Joel B. Bennett and Wayne E.K. Lehman (eds.). 2003. Preventing Workplace Substance Abuse: Beyond Drug Testing to Wellness. Washington, D.C.: American Psychological Association.
   
3. National Labor Relations Board. 1935. National Labor Relations Act. Available at http://www.nlrb.gov/about_us/overview/national_labor_relations_act.aspx/.
   
4. U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration. 2003. Guidelines for a Drug-Free Workforce. Washington, D.C.: DEA.
   
5. Joel B. Bennett and Wayne E.K. Lehman (eds.). 2003. Preventing Workplace Substance Abuse: Beyond Drug Testing to Wellness. Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
   
6. On the Right Track. N.d. “Operation RedBlock at Work.” Available at http://www.redblock.com/.
   
7. United Transportation Union. 2000. “Operation RedBlock.” Available at http://www.utu.org/DEPTS/PR-DEPT/REDBLOCK.HTM/.
   
8. Robert R. Bonds and Effie Bastes. 1999. “A Peer-Professional Team Intervention Approach in the Treatment of Drug and Alcohol Problems in the Workplace.” Paper presented at the International Union of Railways World Conference on Occupational Health and Safety, Sept. 23.
   
9. Samuel B. Bacharach, Peter Bamberger, and William J. Sonnenstuhl. 1994. Member Assistance Programs: The Role of Labor in the Prevention and Treatment of Substance Abuse. Ithaca, New York: ILR Press, Cornell University.
   
10. RailroadData.com. 2007. http://www.railroaddata.com/rrlinks/Detailed/2929.html/.
    
11. Robert R. Bonds and Effie Bastes. 1999. “A Peer-Professional Team Intervention Approach in the Treatment of Drug and Alcohol Problems in the Workplace.” Paper presented at the International Union of Railways World Conference on Occupational Health and Safety, Sept. 23.
    

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