Alcohol and Drug Abuse Essay

Alcoholism and drug abuse in the workplace or school can no longer be ignored by employers and institutions as they contribute to poor performances. Excessive use of alcohol and drugs leads to addiction, which is never addressed by most companies leading to a decrease in an employee’s morale. Drug usage and alcoholism may also make an employee behave inappropriately, disrupting a firm’s operations due to too much tension and frustrations. It also affects the relationship between employees and their clients, not forgetting the negative effect it has on the family that ends up changing how a worker performs at his or her place of work. Burroughs explains that, alcoholism causes an employee to miss work due to hangovers, a factor that causes disruptions at the place of work, causing employees to lose a lot of money. Drug abuse and alcohol reduces employee’s ability to concentrate at work, hence the inability to make right decisions. It also causes employees to produce low-quality jobs, lack of motivation and impaired skills. Employees can be laid off from their jobs or face disciplinary actions from their place of work due to alcoholism as most employees can not tolerate poor performance (2003). According to Wells, (2005), employees can assist employees with alcohol and drug addiction in establishing supportive programs such as Employee Assistance Programs. This program will give employees and their family members, referrals to available community resources and activities. Employers can also encourage employees to seek treatment and rehabilitation at the firm’s expense. Recovery will help employees to change as they feel valued by their organization. They will work on changing their behaviors to avoid disappointing the employer. Employees can seek treatment on their own to avoid the risk of losing jobs. In addition, it is important for employees to avoid bad companies that affect their behaviors’ and encourage the use of drugs and alcohol. It is important for employees to associate with non-alcoholics, to help them reduce bad drinking habits. References Walls, J. (2005). ‘The Glass Castle’, 2nd Edition, Scribner: New Jersey. Burroughs, A. (2003). ‘Dry’. 1st edition, St. Martins Press: New York. Source document