{"id":3984,"date":"2018-06-20T11:42:56","date_gmt":"2018-06-20T15:42:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/?p=3984"},"modified":"2020-01-14T17:12:51","modified_gmt":"2020-01-14T22:12:51","slug":"employers-must-step-up-to-address-substance-abuse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.healthadvocate.com\/site\/article\/employers-must-step-up-to-address-substance-abuse","title":{"rendered":"Employers must step up to address substance abuse"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Nick Otto | Employee Benefit News<\/em>
\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Employers weighing how to deal with substance abuse issues among their workforce are facing an expensive task as the cost of abuse continues to skyrocket from healthcare costs and lost productivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re all aware and have come to understand this has become a major public health crisis on a national, state and community levels,\u201d said Raffi Terzian, senior VP of clinical operations and senior medical director at Health Advocate.<\/p>\n

The cost burden for people with employer-based healthcare coverage saw an eight-fold increase since 2004, Terzian said Monday, speaking at the Society for Human Resource Management annual conference here.<\/p>\n

Employees who often abuse drugs are two to five times more likely take unexcused absences, quit or be fired within one year of employment or be involved in workplace incidents, he added.<\/p>\n

But Terzian points to recent National Business Group on Health data that shows only 21% of employers have programs in place to help manage prescription opioid abuse.<\/p>\n

And for employers looking to put a program in place, or beef up existing programs, Norbert J. Alicea, executive vice president of EAP+ Work\/life services at Health Advocate says managers need to focus on the red flags and early warning signals \u2014 both physical and behavioral \u2014 of substance abuse.<\/p>\n

Among some of the early warning symbols, he says, are frequent absenteeism on days like Monday or Friday, or drastic increases in tardiness and use of sick leave.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlso look for a change in morale among colleagues,\u201d he added. \u201cEmployees know long before HR knows that a person has an issue.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition, Alicea advised employers to train managers to focus on these early warning signs and teach them how to supportively confront workers.<\/p>\n

\u201cUse \u2018I messages.\u2019 Stay away from blame statements which are \u2018you need help\u2019 and instead ones like \u2018I am concerned,\u2019\u201d he said. \u201cManagers and supervisors struggle with tact. It isn\u2019t so much what they say, but how they say it, and that\u2019s where HR can come in and assist them with that conversation.\u201d<\/p>\n

In addition to employee engagement in combating substance abuse, Alicea said many employers are also taking steps to change culture, such as moving away from a zero tolerance policy.<\/p>\n

From a financial standpoint, it is 4 to 5 times better to offer rehabilitation for workers than to terminate, hire and retain new talent, he added.<\/p>\n

He also says employer scan take more proactive approaches to stemming the stigma around substance abuse. Alcohol awareness month, suicide prevention numbers \u2026 create visibility around the topics and engage workers, he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Nick Otto | Employee Benefit News Employers weighing how to deal with substance abuse issues among their workforce are facing an expensive task as the cost of abuse continues to skyrocket from healthcare costs and lost productivity. \u201cWe\u2019re all aware and have come to understand this has become a major public health crisis on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":1023,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[93,52,56,60,92,48],"class_list":["post-3984","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-article","tag-bert-alicea","tag-eap","tag-health-advocacy","tag-opioids","tag-raffi-terzian","tag-shrm"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\nEmployers must step up to address substance abuse | Health Advocate<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Employers weighing how to deal with substance abuse issues among their workforce are facing an expensive task as the cost of abuse continues to skyrocket from healthcare costs and lost productivity.\" \/>\r\n<meta 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