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Company Drug Testing – 3 Tricks Companies Now Use That You Don’t Know About

Health

Company Drug Testing – 3 Tricks Companies Now Use That You Don’t Know About

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In any modern workplace, drug and alcohol testing is not unusual. Many businesses request employees or potential employees to submit samples for a test to ensure that they are not using unprescribed medication or recreational drugs.

Company drug testing, when executed following the right regulations is a completely ethical practice. In fact, there are state and federal laws that support this process. Taking and passing these tests is also a criterion for qualifying for worker compensation benefits like insurance and discount programs.

Drug screening helps the human resources department of an organization to recruit drug-free candidates, especially for positions that require a high level of concentration and coordination. Random drug testing also helps to maintain a safe and productive work environment for everyone. Companies that don’t have drug testing programs may face challenges like on-the-job accidents, low productivity, absenteeism, and so on.

To keep up with the times and beat the many tricks that employees use to pass drug tests, companies are constantly evolving new tricks of their own. Below are three of such tricks that companies now use that you probably don’t know about.

Contents

1. Mandatory Drug Testing Policy

Many companies now have a mandatory test program. This is one of the practices that companies now use to improve their drug-testing process. Unlike in the distant past, drug testing is no longer as random as it used to be. These days, companies now have laid down policies that serve as ground rules for their testing process. Companies that do not have a mandatory drug testing policy are taking a serious risk that may come back to harm their business.

drug testing - urine container

Ordering tests at random or keeping employees in the dark about the factors that warrant a drug test is an unethical practice. Therefore, companies these days now have comprehensive guides and policies in place about the terms of testing, timing, procedures, and reasons for testing employees.

Drug testing policy can be drafted using guidelines published by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) or the American Alliance Drug testing (AADT) on workplace drugs and alcohol. The mandatory drug testing policy is expected to be clear and precise with specific terms and clearly defined details that are easy for the employees to understand.

2. Detailed Documentation

Most people don’t know this, but many companies now keep a comprehensive record of their drug testing process. This includes everything from the drug screening process and dates, test results, cases of employee tampering with samples, and so on.

Keeping accurate records this way can prove quite valuable in the company’s decision-making process and help refine the process for greater accuracy and efficiency of future tests. Companies also include documentation as a part of the drug testing process to protect their organization against litigation. A comprehensive record can make all the difference in cases of litigation against the company’s drug-testing policy.

3. On-Site Drug Testing 

In an attempt to beat drug tests, many employees try out various tricks, some of which are well-known even to employers. Some of the common tricks which people use to beat drug tests include diluting samples, tampering, or substituting samples. Some employees may also try to delay testing to buy enough time to read up tips on how to detoxify with detoxification products like cranberry pills.

A simple way which companies use to beat all the old tricks in the book is by organizing an on-site drug test rather than tell employees to take samples to a lab. On-site drug testing has many security measures that ensure the accuracy of tests. Some companies may close off the workplace entirely on test day to prevent outsiders from smuggling in samples.

On-site testing also makes it easier to verify the identity of test-takers. Collecting samples in a controlled environment like this where trash cans are removed, and water access is shut off means it is more difficult to tamper with or compromise the sample.

On-site drug testing may be set up for a pre-employment test, random test, return to duty, and post-accident test. It can include urine, hair, blood, and oral fluid samples.

Conclusion 

Workplace drug tests have been a controversial topic for a long time. While many employees still feel it is unethical and a breach of their privacy, the fact is that drug testing has come to stay.

A company’s drug testing process is not set in stone—it can be modified at any time to improve the process and achieve better results. Companies are always looking for new ways to make testing more reliable and fool-proof, and the tricks above are some of the ways they do so.

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