Substances in the Workplace?

What would YOU do?LifeServices EAP

Let’s apply concepts learned!Let’s apply

effective observation techniques

Let’s demonstrate correct documentation

Let’s intervene appropriately

Let’s be cognizant of our own personal stressors!

How does it feel when…..?!

• You are faced with possible reasonable suspicion at work?

• You become the target of their anger?

• A peer may be under the influence?

You are Human….!It has GOT to feel

uncomfortable!This is a break from

the “norm” for the workplace environment!

It has also got to feel unnerving to think someone has put you in this position: to act!

How ARE you feeling?

Be honest about how you are feeling!

EmotionsWhat you do with

them!Frustration FearAngerConfusionWorryShock

Could become impatienceCould become avoidanceCould become impulsivenessCould become indecisivenessCould become enablingCould become over-reactions

Act!!• Be honest about your

emotions• Check them out with

another supervisor (do the both of you need to observe and confront)?

• If you both can, then do so!

• Stop the person from performing work duties and do so in a safe manner

• Who will document?• Who will be involved in

the intervention?• Who will take the lead?• Who will accompany

them to the designated drug collection site?

Are you ready to intervene?

Signs & Symptoms• Would you know it if you

saw it?• Can you associate certain

items with drug and alcohol usage?

• Do you know what paraphernalia IS?

• Can you recognize the physical signs of someone under the influence of substances?

• Can you recognize behaviors associated with use of substances?

• Can you associate certain workplace behaviors with someone who may have a problem with substances?

Know what it is?

How do they Behave?Is this normal? How well do you

know them?What are their job

expectations?How are they

different?Is there a “new”

pattern forming?Can you rule-out

other reasons for the behavior?

Situation #1You have completed a project based on the

information provided to you by your supervisor. Your co-worker, in reviewing your final report, tells you that you have done a number of things incorrectly. You say that you followed your supervisor’s exact directives, but she insists you are wrong…she smells like booze!

What would do you do?

Situation #2An employee often shares unsolicited advice

to others even though she is not attached to THEIR duties at all. You notice that others are very uncomfortable with this. You feel that she oversteps her bounds with others. You notice she looks disheveled and very tired lately.

What would you do?

Situation #3An employee makes negative comments

about other employees around everyone. Personally, this makes you feel very uncomfortable.

What would you do?

Situation #4

A maintenance employee discovers a number of empty beer bottles in the trash can under an employee’s work station. He reports this to you as the Maintenance Supervisor.

What would you do?

Situation #5A co-worker talks a lot about smoking “dope”

in the 60’s and 70’s in front of a number of your employees and laments this activity in saying things like: “Ah, the good ‘ol days.” She gets specific in terms of how she smoked pot, the paraphernalia used, the settings in which she smoked, etc……

What would you do?

Situation #6A co-worker makes a number of personal

phone calls throughout the day, talks loudly and, more than once, was overheard talking about “scoring some stuff” that day.

What would you do?

Situation #7You confront an employee, who is missing a

lot of work lately. She mentions how she is in a pain management program for a “slipped disk” and that “these meds sometimes make me “woosy” in the morning.”

What would you do?

Situation #8An employee comes back from his luncheon

break and smells like what you believe is the smell of marijuana.

What would you do?

Situation #9A co-worker tells you that she heard another

co-worker has an oxycodone problem and proceeds to tell you details of what she heard.

What would you do?

Situation #10You run into an employee after hours at a

local pub; she is very intoxicated. She approaches you and discusses all types of things work related, including complaining about your organization and its policies & procedures.

What would you do?

How comfortable are you?Seeing policy

violations?Addressing them?Confronting

someone?Asserting yourself?When you feel

stressed?Seeing policy

violations going unchecked?

You need skill development if:You cringe when you see policy violationsYou cringe at the thought of confronting

someone.You feel too stressed to deal with the

“Situation.”You find yourself continually going home and

re-hashing the day’s events with a loved one.You experience increasing resentment

towards others at work

Call LifeServices EAP!We can be your advocate to deal with the

“how-to’s,” especially in uncomfortable situations.

We can be that objective (impartial) party.We are professionals who deal with human

and workplace behaviors all the time!We understand the work environment.We can facilitate the management referral

process.

De-Stress every chance you get!!(Margie’s retirement location)