Being addicted to alcohol or drugs can be a risky business. Addiction spills over into different areas of the sufferer’s life and can have consequences detrimental to someone’s lifestyle and well-being.
When an addiction spreads into someone’s work life we face a very real threat of losing their job and livelihood. This causes pressure on relationships, family, and their runs a risk of losing their home. If an addiction is not treated they place their entire lives in peril as they become powerless to stop.Keeping control of an addiction and keeping substance abuse away from a workplace can be difficult when intake cannot be controlled. If Drugs or alcohol are starting to affect your work it is bound to be noticed and your job could hang in the balance.
Addiction can change of person’s character and mood. This can make someone who has a problem with drink or drugs very difficult to work with and somewhat unpredictable. Turning up for work under the influence of alcohol or drugs usually can be grounds for dismissal under gross misconduct. Attempts at helping someone who clearly has a problem with addiction are often met with derision, anger or indifference if they still deny that there is a problem. Successful rehabilitation can only begin once an addict admits they have an addiction.
No one is likely to be impressed with anyone who turns up to work every day with a hangover or smelling of alcohol. Absenteeism and sickness days off are higher amongst those who drink heavily. Hangovers and the depressant actions of alcohol make productivity fall, and colleagues may resent having to “carry” members of their team who aren’t pulling their weight. This can lead to bad feeling and uncomfortable, tense work environment. Working in a difficult environment and can make day-to-day relations awkward. An alcoholic may try and avoid confrontation by taking more time off work sick.
Using, distributing or selling illicit drugs in the workplace will cost you your job and possibly a criminal record. This will impede many career choices and some even lose their jobs as they fail to meet CRB check requirements and security clearances. Qualifications may be rendered useless as a criminal record check is mandatory for certain professions. The sooner an addiction is treated the most successful rehabilitation is likely to be. Both the mental and physical effects alcohol has on the body can be, at least, in part reversed once the substance abuse cases.
Being under the influence of drink or drugs can cause serious consequences if the person who has been taking them is in charge of the welfare of other people. Serious errors of judgements are more likely to be made if someone is intoxicated as their concentration and perceptions of risk may change, causing potentially fatal consequences.
