It is becoming almost inevitable that at one time or another, senior human resources managers to be confronted by the dilemma of what to do with someone with an alcohol dependency problem in the workplace. The dilemma always revolves around whether to support the employee to try and recover or to go down the warning and disciplinary route. Employees engaging in abuse of alcohol and other drugs, either on their own time or at work, pose significant and a wide-range of problems to their employers, their managers, fellow employees and their societies as well (Hall, 2003). Some of these problems would include lowered productivity, absenteeism, diminished job performance, high medical bills, and damage to the reputation of the company they work for among many others.
In a case whereby an employee has been charged with driving under the influence, this would compel a human resource manager to act accordingly. Driving under the influence endangers the life of both the employee and other road users and also may lead to higher costs being incurred in case of an accident. As the HR manager, actions to be taken would heavily depend on how much an asset or liability the employee is to the organization. It is also worth noting that the American with Disabilities Act (ADA) protects an employee from workplace discrimination hence decisions to be arrived at must be well thought through. Discipline or termination of employment should be based on the employee being unable to meet the same performance and productivity standards.
As a human resource manager a first step would be to assess whether the employee has got an alcohol dependency problem or turned to alcohol because of work-related stress. If it is related to stress at work, actions to be taken would require moral considerations. This would involve talking about the issue with the said employee. Reference would be made to the established rules and regulations regarding alcoholism in the organization and its related behaviors. According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse (1991), alcoholism is a treatable disease and hence an alcoholic employee would need to be supported to try and get him/her out of that situation. This type of support may translate to heightened loyalty and commitment to the organization making the employee a more valuable asset. This support may be in the form of employee assistance or rehabilitations at specific places. If in any case the employee had gone against the organization’s policy, relevant disciplinary action would be taken and this may range from being sent home to salary deductions among many other measures. It is usually up to the human resource managers to come up with comprehensive policies to curb such instances that may disrepute the organization or might lead to other irrelevant costs being incurred by both the employee and the organization.
References
Hall, A. (2003). Managing people. Maidenhead: Open University Press.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. (1991). Drug testing: Handle with care (employer version). Rockville, Md.: NIDA.
