How to Recognize the Signs of Drug Abuse for Employers

Recognizing drug abuse in your employees is not always easy. Unfortunately, drug abusers don't have a glowing sign on them letting everyone around them know they abuse drugs. It could be the person you might never suspect. As an employer you need to learn how to recognize the signs of drug abuse, not just for your business but to help your employees, too.

Instructions

• 1

  Keep track of your employees' work performance. If an employee is not completing quality work anymore, calling in sick more often, has trouble following directions, takes too many restroom breaks or causes an accident, your employee could be abusing drugs. Recognize these signs so you can do something about them.

• 2

  Check your employees' appearance on a daily basis. Look your employees in the eyes. Signs of drug abuse in the eyes are larger or smaller pupils or redness in the whites of the eyes. Raw skin and redness around the mouth or nose is a sign of drug abuse. Other physical signs of drug abuse are drug residue on your employee's clothing or skin. If someone has been using for awhile they could become careless, and the signs will show.

• 3

  Speak to your employees. If your employee has trouble carrying a conversation, is sweating profusely and slurring her wordsm she could be abusing drugs. Check your employee's stride. If your employee is stumbling, staggering or tripping it might be a sign of drug abuse.

• 4

  Pay attention to your employees' daily mood. Most people have a balanced mood and occasionally (or appropriately) get angry, sad and happy. However, a sign of drug abuse is in those who have a lot of mood swings. They will tend to become euphoric, extremely depressed and then angry within a short period of time. The emotions are usually not appropriate for the situation.

• 5

  Look for the pattern to recognize the signs of drug abuse. When an employee starts using they will experiment first, which is usually very obvious to others around them. After that they will become addicted to the drug and more tolerant, which makes recognizing the signs more difficult. However, the employee's performance will continue to deteriorate. The employee could start borrowing money and asking for an early paycheck. You might notice that your employee has gained or lost a lot of weight, dresses poorly, doesn't groom well, begins to pull away from others and doesn't get along with co-workers well anymore.