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Returning to Work, Even from Home?

Employers May Still Require Drug & Alcohol Testing

As more and more offices open post-pandemic, there is a good chance that employers might implement new return-to-work policies, procedures, and protocols — and that includes drug testing.

While many employers conduct drug and alcohol testing as part of standard pre-employment screening processes, it is a good possibility testing could be a requirement to return to the office or to monitor those working from home.

Employers’ drug testing slowed down during the pandemic for several reasons, including COVID-19 safety concerns and unemployment. A recent survey found a 61 percent drop or more in drug testing among employers. Conversely, drug and alcohol use increased during the pandemic as people turned to vices to self-medicate or cope with the stress created by the national health crisis.

• Sales of alcoholic beverages shot up as much as 55 percent in March 2020. Sales remain 20–30 percent higher this year than in March
• Americans purchased $18.3 billion in cannabis products over the past calendar year, $7.6 billion more than the $10.7 billion in sales the previous year.
• Data shows a 29 percent increase in overdose deaths from October 2019 through September 2020, compared with the previous 12-month period after falling slightly in 2018 for the first time in decades.

Drug and alcohol screenings are important. These tests help employers provide the safest possible work environment for employees, visitors, and customers. Here are some of the effects drug use can have on returning workers:

• Greater risk of a workplace accident
• Lower productivity
• Increased absenteeism
• Higher medical costs

Employers need a policy against the use of drugs while working from home or at the workplace — especially now that the pandemic is winding down. Employers should also clearly restate the company drug and alcohol policy to employees to clear up any misconceptions.

Any Lab Test Now® is a direct access lab testing company that can manage pre-employment drug testing, random testing programs, reasonable suspicion tests, post-incident and return-to-duty drug and alcohol testing for employers nationwide.

The most common employment-related drug test is the Urine Drug Test (5-Panel), which checks for the presence of five drug metabolites including:

• Amphetamine/Methamphetamines
• Marijuana
• Cocaine
• Opiates
• Phencyclidine (PCP)

The company’s 10-drug panel tests may also include screenings for phencyclidine (PCP), methadone, propoxyphene, and methaqualone.

Any Lab Test Now is also qualified to provide testing for the Department of Transportation as part of its Federally Mandated Urine Drug Test (5-Panel). This test is a laboratory-based test and includes a screen, confirmation, and the review of a medical officer.

The company can also administer the Healthcare Professional Drug Panel, specifically designed to test healthcare professionals for highly addictive prescription medications that are readily available at their workplace. The panel will determine the presence or absence of the most easily abused prescription drugs or their metabolites in the urine.

Be at Ease

Any Lab Test Now wants everyone to be at ease when it comes to seeking out any type of lab work, including drug and alcohol screenings.

We provide a safe and clean alternative location for lab work. Each of our 190+ stores is sanitized several times a day, in accordance with the CDC’s protocols. Any Lab Test Now is a committed partner in helping you manage your family’s healthcare so you can make educated decisions that will directly affect your quality of life. We want to put you at ease during the coronavirus pandemic. We are here to help.

For more information about Any Lab Test Now, and the tests we offer, visit us at www.anylabtestnow.com.

Which Alternative Specimens for Drug Testing Ensure a Drug-Free Workplace?

While not all employers need, or want, to test current or prospective employees, those whose employees have access to confidential information or perform jobs operating heavy machinery or driving or flying may be required to use drug testing. Common reasons companies institute aDrugfreeWorkplace Program include:

• Government regulations or contract requirements
• Reduce risk and safety liability
• Reduce incidences of theft
• Reduceworker’scompensation premiums
• Reduce absenteeism
• Improve productivity
• Ensure the habits of drug users and abusers don’t negatively affect their company’s culture and good employees

According to a recent survey of 1,000 companies performed by the American Management Association, 51.5% of the respondents engaged in some form of drug testing, representing a net increase of 140% since 1987.

The urine drug test is the easiest to administer and is inexpensive, but it can be easy to adulterate and pass. To ensure that this doesn’t happen, it is sometimes necessary to observe the urine collection, a degrading process for everyone involved. Urine drug testing detects drug use within an average window of the past 1-3 days.  This is only an average, as frequency of use, concentration of the drug ingested, and even the donor’s own metabolism influence the detection period.  In situations where direct observation is required, same gender collectors and facilities that accommodate proper urine collection protocols. Current alternative testing technologies provide not only accurate results with a longer detection window, but simpler test administration.

If employers want to conduct drug testing there are other options that may be easier, less invasive and more difficult to tamper with. Hair and fingernail/toenail drug testing offer longer detection windows (common employer practice is a 90 day period for a hair follicle test; nails provide 4 to 6 months of information). These tests are easy to administer with very simple facility accommodations and without the need for gender based test collectors. In addition, these biological specimens are very difficult for candidates or employees to adulterate. Although more expensive than urine testing, an employer has the ability to monitor a candidate’s usage over a longer period of time and with less inconvenience and discomfort than traditional urine drug tests. These tests also offer the benefit of identifying long-term drug use, while urine tests only show use within the most recent few days.

Oral fluid testing is also available and may be the right test if there is a suspicion of drug use or immediately after an incident. Because the detection window is even shorter than a urine test, only 2-24 hours, this test is best used to pinpoint short-term, immediate use or for a random drug test. Oral fluid testing is a lab-based test, not a rapid test, is difficult to tamper with, very easy to administer, and requires virtually no facility adjustment or specific test collector requirements.  It is also a good solution for remote work areas, where it may be challenging for a drug testing provider togetonsitewithina reasonable period of time.

Alternative specimens for drug testing provide flexibility for employers to better meet their corporate and HR goals and objectives, especially for those with higher risk and safety issues at stake.  It is important to incorporate language for alternative specimens intoyourDrugfreeWorkplacePolicy if you choose to expand testing beyond the more common urine drug test.

Although not every employer will need to know how their employees, either current or prospective, spend their time over the weekend, whether engaging in drug use or not, many employers want to know that employees are not coming to work under the influence, missing work or deadlines due to drug use or endangering clients or other employees. Each drug testing specimen has benefits and situations in which it is best suited.

The urine drug test still has a place in an overall drug testing program and is ideal for random drug testinginongoing drug-free workplaces. It is cost-effective and provides instant results when a rapid screen is used. Adulteration and dilution testing of specimens collected is available, and it is still the most common method of drug testing.

Employers considering instituting a drug testing program should investigate and design a comprehensive program that utilizes multiple tests to deter drug use. Multiple detection windows and test specimens can help to ensure that candidates and employees are staying clean, thereby protecting your workplace, your employees and your clients.

Drug Free Work Week

By Laura Bradbury

Toxicology Manager

This week we are participating in National Drug Free Work Week here at ANY LAB TEST NOW®. Waaaaaaiittt, before you stop reading- stay tuned for some information that might surprise you about drug testing. Even if you are not an employer, this can affect you as an employee. So buckle your seat belt and read to the end.

Drug testing is expensive, right? I mean in this economy we are all tightening our belts. We have to make sure every penny that we are spending has a positive return on investment. It takes money to make money, but a penny saved is a penny earned.

So let’s break down a few myths that you may have heard.

The first myth is: I will lose all of my employees if I drug test.

At ANY LAB TEST NOW, we work with the most highly accredited and reliable toxicology labs in the country. They’ve done a lot of research about drug use. In a year of testing tens of thousands of employees, our data shows that less than one in ten employees test positive for drugs. For companies that have a rigorous random drug testing policy in place, the percentage of positive tests drops dramatically to one in twenty or even as low as one in fifty. Did you know that 44% of callers to the cocaine hotline admitted that they have sold drugs at work? Do you really want to employ folks who may be bringing drugs to your place of business?

The second myth is: Drug testing takes a lot of time and it’s a lot of paperwork.

One of the options that ANY LAB TEST NOW is happy to offer is on site testing. We will come to your location to do the collections. That means we can have an employee off line for less than 10 minutes. This is just one of the convenient services your personal drug testing specialists will be able to offer you. We can also help you create a drug testing policy as well as help you qualify for worker’s compensation insurance discounts where applicable. It’s all part of the total package solution that we provide.

The third one is: Drug testing is expensive, I can’t afford it.

Drug testing does come with a fee; however the financial benefits by far outweigh what you will spend in drug testing costs. Have you noticed that health care costs are rising? If you are a small, medium or a large sized business, you may have had to reduce the healthcare benefits you are offering to your employees. The fact is ONE drug or alcohol abuser can cost an employer over $6000 per year! If you have 20 employees, you may spend less than $1000 to drug test all of them. Having a drug free workforce gives you a positive return on your investment in testing.

Secondly, drug and alcohol abusers may not always be under the influence at work, but they most definitely suffer the consequences of drug use in their performance. In a study of admitted cocaine abusers, 67% of them admitted that they under performed on the job. So what does that really mean? That means YOU are paying a drug abuser 100% salary to do two thirds of a job! Think of how much money you could save to fire the underperformer and hire someone able to give 100%.

Last but not least, we are here to help. If you need employee education materials to raise awareness of the impact drug and alcohol abuse, supervisor training or a substance abuse professional, your personal drug testing specialist from ANY LAB TEST NOW will guide you every step of the way. All though this week we are promoting National Drug Free Work Week, every week should be at your place of business.

Congratulations! You’re almost to the end where you get to find out some good news. We are going to give you something for FREE! Would you like to find out how much money you can save by implementing a drug free work place? Contact your personal drug testing specialist at ANY LAB TEST NOW and ask for a consultation. Not only is it free, it may save you money.