Alcohol on the Breath at Work: Training Supervisors in Reasonable Suspicion

Free Health and Wellness Tip Sheet for New Years Resolution

Free Health and Wellness Tip Sheet for New Years Resolution

Guide to Intervening with an Alcoholic Employee in the Workplace Experiencing Documentable Job Performance Problems

After reasonable suspicion training, supervisors refer to a testing facility when an employee is identified via signs and symptoms or some other requisite criteria, but there is more to the story if treatment is recommended or there is no larger system of employee assistance programming, no testing protocols, and no referral mechanism to help salvage the worker. Help must still be available to the small business owner--and 80% of USA employers are micro, mini, or family owned businesses. This is the intervention approach I formulated at the Arlington Hospital with the ASSIST for Business program we established there, and used in reaching small businesses from law offices to apartment complexes, gas stations, and local banks. And it worked ethically, effectively, and consistent the chronic disease model, the EAP core technology, and principles of influence and leverage associated with job security as a lever for motivating the alcoholic (usually although we had some PCD and Cocaine referrals) and follow through with treatment, aftercare, follow-up, and recommend treatment programming. Key always is follow up and use of a follow up tool to catch diminishing involvement in a recovery program prior to relapse.

http://www.workexcel.com/content/PDF/How%20to%20Conduct%20an%20Intervention%20in%20the%20Workplace%20with%20an%20Alcoholic%20Employee%20Experiencing%20Performance%20Problems.pdf

Reasonable Suspicion Training, Attendance Patterns, and Intervention

Alcohol and drug using employees who have substance abuse dependencies may in the later stages of their illness demonstrate erratic attendance patterns that lead to their termination. One common pattern that you should discuss in reasonable suspicion training is the problematic performance issues of being absent on Monday, absent on Friday, and absent the day after payday. Alcoholics or drug addicted employees aren’t the only ones who experience this attendance pattern, of course.

Depression affecting employees, for example, can easily contribute to an absenteeism pattern. In fact, oddly, once had an EAP client with attendance pattern caused by her inability to continue on any drive to work because of fear that she had accidentally run over someone when she turned the last corner while driving her car. This necessitated her turning the car around and driving back in the opposite direction to ensure no one was lying in the street injured or dead! This would happen a dozen times on her commute to work.

Despite other personal problems of employees that contribute to absenteeism, the classic pattern above is probably most common among addicts and frequently observed by managers and workforce management professionals with any significant time on the job. Typically when this symptom pattern is discussed in reasonable suspicion training, you will receive a odd chuckle from the crowd because they all know what you are talking about. (Continue to Read More on Reasonable Suspicion Training and Intervention and get the free e-book download PDF on Performance-based Intervention)

Reasonable Suspicion Training for Supervisors Educating Them About Codependency

Some supervisors struggle with codependency issues and this contributes to their inability to participate fully in enforcing a drug free workplace policy. Educate them so they understand this dynamic and you will be more successful in motivating them to identify drug and alcohol using employees on the job who should be referred for a reasonable suspicion testing. Any supervisor who is overly concerned about the well-being of an employee under their position or, indeed, starts controlling the life of the employee to help prevent his or her demise from substance abuse, is strongly hooked as an enabler and codependent person. This urgency to meet the needs of another person, while denying your own needs, may earn praise from others around you. But if you are unhappy with your relationships and struggle to find more balance, you may be struggling with codependency. So what is codependency? Codependency is a term used to describe problematic ways of thinking and behaving that contribute to adult relationship problems. Generally, these maladaptive behaviors are learned in one’s family of origin. They reflect the spoken and unspoken rules, along with ways of coping that family members learned in the face of persistent physical or emotional issues. Codependency is a common problem, and much attention has been dedicated to understanding it and helping people overcome it.

The word "codependency" evolved from the word "co-alcoholic," a term commonly used to describe a person in a close relationship with an alcoholic (or drug addict). Co-alcoholics naturally attempt to cope with the alcoholic's dysfunctional behavior by enabling — controlling, protecting, and compensating for the alcoholic's problems. Many people in adult relationships with alcoholics grew up in an alcoholic home, and as a result, exhibit learned codependent behaviors in their relationships. You can see from the information about that any education program in reasonable suspicion training is going to help make an impact on this critical dynamic that thwarts referrals to addiction treatment programs and assessments my Employee Assistance Programs. Growing up in an alcoholic home is one way to be affected by codependency, but other health conditions and psychological problems may contribute to the development of codependency. The personalities of family members and the types of problems they experience shape the codependent behaviors. http://www.workexcel.com/reasonable-suspicion-dot-drug-alcohol-training-for-supervisors-2hr-Certificate/

Alcohol Awareness in Reasonable Suspicion Training is More than Spotting the Wobbly Employee

Alcohol awareness training is an important part of DOT reasonable suspicion training, but not for the reasons you might at first imagine. When discussing alcohol awareness, you might think that this topic will focus mostly on signs of intoxication, the way a drunk wobbles, speech, and smell. You will discover few intoxicated individuals this way, and that was proven, well, way back in 1960 when we taught supervisors to do all these things and nothing happened. We then shifted to performance, quality of work, attendance, conduct, workplace troubles, and evaluated these individuals for alcoholism. The reults? Boom! The EAP field was born.

But, I digress. Although these things are important, even more important are intensive education for supervisors which breaks their grip on the myths and misconceptions they naturally possess about alcohol, alcohol abuse, alcoholism, treatment, recovery, and manipulation.

Failing to address these issues will leave your supervisor audience about where they were when they first arrived--resistant to believing in the disease model of addiction and the important ramifications this will have on the future as they engage employees. Supervisors who have not been trained and educated in these myths and misconceptions are extremely vulnerable to manipulation.

To keep your alcohol awareness education meaningful, consider the 7-8 handouts on drug and alcohol awareness that you will discover on the WorkExcel.com/blog - specifically at http://www.workexcel.com/blog/nine-musthave-handouts-for-dot-drug-and-alcohol-training-in-reasonable-suspicion-for-supervisors/ These handouts are editable and reproducible, and you buy them on the Web site.

Before purchase drug and alcohol training program for the DOT, be sure this awareness training is in the package. At http://workexcel.info, you will discover you can preview a product free--free postage and free return -- get a good look at the product. Make sure it provides employees with information necessary to increase awareness about alcohol and other drugs of abuse. The alcohol awareness training should focus on employee well-being and workplace productivity and should include information about the disease of alcoholism and drug addiction (addictive disease); common myths and misconceptions; tolerance and cross tolerance, denial; enabling and armchair diagnosing.

Yeah, we got that.

The alcohol awareness training should raise awareness about the misinformation most people possess about alcoholism and drug addiction garnered from popular culture, the media, and family history.

One of society's greatest misconceptions is that someone has to "want help" before they can be helped. The truth is most employees are motivated or pressured by tools of influence or leverage such as a job, money, prison or divorce. They enter treatment and then they become motivated to want what the healtiest patient has found--peace of mind with sobriety