Do I need a drug policy?

diane

Here's my dilemma. I work for a small (less than 40 employees) software development co. We don't do anything by the book (all right, I did finally get them to classify some positions as non-exempt. It was my major coup, and it only took 2 years!!). Anyway, I've updated the employee manual (why bother??), and I had this silly idea that I should have something in there regarding use of drugs/alcohol. The truth is my CEO and President don't want to travel that path. They would rather deal with these problems as performance issues...i.e. excessive absence, poor performance, excessive lateness etc. In fact, they would prefer not to deal with these issues at all as long as work is not affected. And, don't we all agree this is the way to go? We have an employee now who would probably be considered an alcoholic, but other than some additional Mondays off, his performance is good. By the way, we're really good at ignoring our Paid Time Off policies! Am I in big trouble if I don't have a drug/alcohol policy, or am I in bigger trouble if I have a policy and don't use it?

Crout

Of course your company needs a drug policy. However, if no one in your chain of command is interested in such a policy I would drop it. The best you are going to do in this circumstance is to document your recommendations. That way when your house of cards caves in, you might not be the scapegoat. Unfortunately, it sounds like your bosses need to get burned before they will be willing to join the 21st century. You have my sympathies.

Don D

On the other hand, you may indeed NOT need one. Who's to say? Some of your employees might tell you that their most creative software development activities are enhanced proportionately by the number of times they visit the 'smoking' bench out back during an 8-hour shift. Certainly if you had towmotors whizzing around the business, or DOT covered drivers about the premises or people controlling air traffic, your liberal bosses would not stand a snowball's chance in hell with their tolerant positions. You must not have government contracts to produce software either. Whether you MUST have a drug policy is often difined by the government depending on your industry and its connections to government or interstate commerce. Whether you NEED to have a drug policy is typically determined by the guys whose name is on the corporate charter. No disrespect, but it sounds to me as if your owners don't take much of anything H.R. related seriously. x:-)

Pork

Diane, having a policy and not using it legally speaking means you have no policy at all. Company actions always speak louder than words. I was raised in this HR world by the "king of policy and regulations", the government; "follow the written letter or die trying" is where I come from! If I was you I believe I would first dust off my resume and get it on the street because I could not live in your world. While looking for some better place for me to grow, I would follow the lead of the CEO and let them handle it there way. Problem is, what do you do when they want to use a written policy to hammer an employee situation? You now have to advise them to back off because the company's actions may have set precedent of actions verses precedent of policy into reality. Oh how confusing things get for we HRs. Good luck Pork