Government Offices | South East | Drug and Alcohol Workplace Policies

Professional organisations are not immune to the effects of drug and alcohol misuse; a recent study reported that 27% of absenteeism reported by employers was due to drug misuse(1) and alcohol misuse costs British industry 17 million working days a year(2).

Employers are also responsible for adhering to their statutory obligations, and furthermore may consider it beneficial to create a positive and productive workplace environment. All of this makes a drug and alcohol policy a highly useful tool, indicative of employers who are engaged with the situation of the society around them.

The following advice is a compilation of the most helpful advice, from various sources, on how to formulate a drug and alcohol workplace policy. Where possible, these sources are referenced and a bibliography and a list of useful external links are included to aid further research on this subject.

The advice covers four broad areas:

Why organisations should have a drug and alcohol workplace policy – this goes into further detail on relevant legislation, corporate advantages, and societal and personal advantages to having a policy.
How to produce to a drug and alcohol workplace policy – advice on the process that one can use to produce the document itself and to raise awareness amongst employees. Includes a procedural diagram.
What to put in a policy – more detail on the content of a policy.
Examples of good practice – well-drafted policies from various organisations

Further information is also obtainable from:

The term ‘substance misuse’ is used in a similar way to ‘drug and alcohol misuse’ in this advice; whilst some policies choose to separate the two substances to ease understanding and clarity, this advice does not. The decision to separate the two is down to individual organisations.

There are some key points to draw from this advice:

Individuality – there are numerous templates available from internet companies providing drugs policies and whilst this may be useful for ideas, organisations are reminded that the most effective policies are those that are tailored to their unique size, function and workplace environment. The process of doing this also engages the workforce with the issue.
Implementation and Monitoring – once a policy has been written, it must not become simply another ‘piece of paper’. By effective implementation and monitoring, it can be an effective, cohesive and living cultural aspect of an organisation that has a positive impact for the well-being of all its members.

The Drug and Alcohol Workplace Policies pages were compiled by Grace Huxford for the Government Office for the South East using information from sources included in the references section. Additional thanks go to Elizabeth Flegg (West Sussex DAAT), Action for Change and all those who contributed via the Community Safety e-forum.

(1) Alcohol Concern and DrugScope, Developing and Implementing A Workplace Policy: Glancesheet No.4, (London, 2001)

(2) Prime Minister’s Strategy Unit, Alcohol Harm Reduction Strategy For England, (2004)