Industry survey – The effectiveness of workplace drug testing

More than half of employers (57%) conduct drug tests on all job candidates, while only 29% do not conduct drug tests on any job candidates, according to a poll released September 7, 2011 by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) in collaboration with and commissioned by the Drug & Alcohol Testing Industry Association (DATIA).

The Drug Testing Efficacy study examined the correlation between drug testing programs and areas such as productivity, absenteeism, workers’ compensation incidence rates and turnover rates in employee populations.

For example:

• One-fifth of organizations (19%) reported seeing an improvement in productivity.
• Four percent of employers said they had high absenteeism rates (more than 15%) after implementing drug testing programs compared to 9% before beginning programs, a decrease of more than 50%.
• Six percent of organizations saw workers’ compensation incidence rates of more than 6% after implementing programs compared to 14% before starting drug testing programs, a decrease of more than 50%.
• For employers with drug testing programs, 16% reported a decrease in employee turnover rates, while 8% reported an increase, after the implementation of a drug testing program.

For the key findings and the full study, click here.

For more information about drug testing, visit our website.