When someone is suffering from addiction, their first instinct is to hide it. Addiction should be treated as the medical issue that it is, but unfortunately it is often treated as a criminal matter best suited to punishment. This causes unintended problems in the workplace, where people who may have developed an addiction to opioid pain medications in particular find that it’s easier to perpetuate their addictions than to seek help. It’s easier to get opioids, after all, than it is to keep your job so you can keep your health insurance so you can pay for addiction treatment that you have to take time off to receive. What if there were a better way?



Making it part of your normal HR training to ensure that anyone dealing with the medical problem of addiction has a path not only to recovery but also back into the workplace is the best way to treat addiction in the workplace. Outline processes and expectations for recovery so that people know they won’t be losing a job and potentially ending up homeless because of a medical condition. Ensure there’s a path back to their job that includes mentoring to help keep them on the right path.



Learn more about fighting opioid addictions in the workplace from the infographic below.

Infographic by US Drug Test Centers