Addiction Policy Forum
Navigating Addiction Treatment: A Guide for Families is a resource that could be helpful to employees.
Types of Substance Use Disorder provides a good overview of SUD for non-experts
American Public Health Association
A Public Health Approach to Protecting Workers from Opioid Use Disorder and Overdose Related to Occupational Exposure, Injury, and Stress (Policy Number 202012) - Outlines the APH position on protecting worker from opioid use disorder and overdose in the occupational context, identifying strategies for addressing it.
American Psychiatric Association
What Is a Substance Use Disorder? Provides information on SUD, its treatment, how to get help for a friend or family member, and more. Includes a video.
Aviation Sector
Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol Program (FADAP): The Flight Attendant Drug and Alcohol Program (FADAP) offers services and tools for the prevention of and recovery from substance use disorders for Flight Attendants. It also seeks to build a climate of safety and wellness by creating a workplace culture shift that no longer ignores, stigmatizes, or disciplines Flight Attendants struggling with such health problems. Offers peer mentors to assist flight attendants returning to duty maintain recovery while flying, provides a wellness mobile app, information, and other resources.
Affinity groups, also known as employee resource groups (ERGs), bring together employees with similar backgrounds or interests and can have a powerful influence in the workplace.
Employers that have, or are exploring establishing, affinity groups, though, must consider several legal and practical issues.
HIMS (Human Intervention Motivational Study): HIMS (Human Intervention Motivational Study): HIMS is an occupational substance use disorder treatment program for commercial pilots. This industry-wide program, involving airlines, pilots, healthcare professionals, and the FAA, coordinates the identification, treatment, and return to work process for pilots with substance use disorder.
Behavioral Health and Racial Equity (BE HERE) Initiative
Workplace: Recovery Supportive Policies - Provides recommendations for creating a recovery-supportive workplace through culture, policies, and practices. Defines a recovery-supportive workplace (RSW) is one that values the experiences of people in recovery from addiction and the unique perspectives and tools they bring to the workplace.
Examples - Companies that Have Adopted Recovery-Ready Workplace Policies
Belden’s Pathways to Employment: A Community-Based Solution Blending Drug Rehabilitation with the Promise of Employment for Workers Willing to Lead Drug-Free Lives. An overview of Belden, Inc.’s Pathways to Employment initiative, which provides a pathway to employment for people who test positive on a pre-employment drug screen.
Delta Airlines – The American Psychiatric Association Center for Workplace Mental Health highlighted Delta airlines for its efforts to address substance use disorder and mental health conditions in employees through its employee assistance program, peer support, behavioral health leave and accommodations, and other practices.
DV8 Kitchen was developed and operates as a second chance employment opportunity for people who are trying to redirect their lives. People in the early stages of substance abuse recovery often find it difficult to find employers willing to take a chance on them.
Hypertherm – Titled Lessons from Becoming a Recovery Friendly Workplace, this podcast interview and transcript describe Hypertherm Associates’ journey to become a recovery-ready workplace through New Hampshire’s Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative.
Grayken Center for Addiction at Boston Medical Center
Grayken Center Employer Resource Library
Selected Resources from Library:
- Assessing and Engaging the Organization Checklist
- Employer Survey on Employee Support for Substance Use and Mental Health Disorders Focus Group Discussion Questions
- Benefits Coverage Questionnaire
- Guiding principles and steps for developing cross-functional advisory team
- Developing Policies and Practices Checklist
- Supporting and Encouraging Employees Checklist
- CEO Sample Letter: Words Matter – The sample letter includes a language guidance table and a pledge for employees to sign
Healthcare Sector
Federation of State Physician Health Programs, Inc. (FSPHP) is a 501c3 national membership association that evolved from initiatives taken by the American Medical Association (AMA), the Federation of State Medical Boards (FSMB), State Medical Societies/Associations and individual state physician health programs. A Physician Health Program (PHP) is a confidential resource for physicians, other licensed healthcare professionals, and those training to become health professionals with substance use, psychiatric, medical, behavioral or other potentially impairing conditions. A List of state Physician Health Programs can be found here.
Impaired Practice in Nursing: A Guidebook for Interventions and Resources. Massachusetts Nurses Association. a resource to the collective bargaining representatives, within the Massachusetts Nurses Association, as they assist nurses with impaired practice and/or substance use problems. In addition, it serves as a resource for nurses who may have a concern regarding their own use of substances or a colleague’s behavior associated with substance use.
Intervention Project for Nurses, Florida. The mission of IPN is to ensure public health and safety by providing education, monitoring, and support to nurses in the State of Florida.
Nurses Peer Support Network of Minnesota - NPSNetwork is a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization providing support to Minnesota nurses in recovery from substance use disorder. NPSNetwork's mission is two-fold: to serve nurses in recovery throughout Minnesota; and, to provide education to the nursing schools, professional organizations, employers of nurses and the general public about substance use disorder, recovery and the role of peer support.
Wisconsin Peer Alliance for Nurses (WisPAN) is Wisconsin’s peer support organization for nurses with substance use disorder run by nurses in recovery from substance use disorders.
Massachusetts General Hospital Recovery Research Institute
Recovery 101 page provides a comprehensive array of relevant resources, including "Fast Facts, the 10 most scientifically supported facts on recovery, information on recovery pathways and on recovery and the brain and a comprehensive Resource and Information Listing that includes information on identifying quality treatment, SUD signs and symptoms, pregnancy and SUD, SUD treatment scams, insurance, co-occurring substance use and mental health disorders, and more.
The Addiction-ary provides an extensive listing of both neutral, science-based language and stigmatizing terms.
The Real Stigma of Substance Use Disorders provides information on the impact of language on perceptions and judgments through a review of a well-known experiment.
Miscellaneous
Addiction In The Workplace - How Leaders Can Help Create A Path To Recovery, Forbes Business Council.
NEW Healthier Workforce Center of the Midwest – An initiative of the University of Iowa College of Public Health, with provides free and low-cost resources for employers to support worker well-being in the Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s Federal Region 7, which consists of Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. Pilot funding is available for organizations serving multiple employers to support the implementation of Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFW) programs, practices, and policies among small- and medium-sized enterprises under the Promoting the Implementation of Recovery Friendly Workplaces Pilot Grant.
Opioids in the Workplace: Awareness - Rutgers University School of Public Health: This one-hour free web-based training is based on the National Institute on Environmental Health Sciences’ Opioids & Substance Use: Workplace Prevention & Response toolkit.
NEW People's Recovery Initiative for Solutions & More – PRISM is dedicated to raising awareness, educating, and reducing stigma surrounding substance use and addiction in North Carolina. They offer services to help organizations become a Recovery Ready Workplace.
The Effects of Substance Use on Workplace Injuries - Rand Corporation, 2009. A review of the scientific literature on the impact of substance use on occupational injuries.
NEW What is a Recovery Ready Workplace (RRW)? Why Do We need Them? – Video recording of training sponsored by New York Committee for Occupational Safety and Health and the New York City Labor Council.
NEW What You Can Do to Create an Inclusive Workplace for Employees in Long-Term Recovery - This Inc. Magazine post notes that, in order to create a truly inclusive workplace, companies must do more to support and embrace employees in long-term recovery. It identifies five ways employers can do that.
National Employment Law Project
The Business Case: Becoming a Fair-Chance Employer, National Employment Law Project (While criminal justice-specific, it provides a good example and is applicable to a significant portion of people with or in recovery from SUD due to the high rates of criminal justice system involvement associated with drug use.
National Safety Council (NSC)
Substance Use: How Employers can Make a Difference - Key information and resources for employers.
First Aid, CPR and AED Courses
Goplerud et al. A Substance Use Cost Calculator for US Employers With an Emphasis on Prescription Pain Medication Misuse - Article in peer reviewed journal describing the methodology for developing the NORC/NSC Substance Use Cost Calculator.
Implications of Opioid Use Disorders for Employers an overview of the impacts of opioids on employers and steps employers can take to respond.
NORC, NSC Mental Health Employer Cost Calculator - Mental health cost calculator developed utilizing similar approach.
NORC/NSC Briefs:
- Cannabis and the Workplace
- Driving Under the Influence
- How Workers with Active Substance Use Disorders Impact Employer Health Care Costs
- Impacts of Alcohol on Worker Health, Safety, Risk-taking and Workplace Costs
- Prescription Opioids and Work
- Short-Term Disability, Long-Term Disability and Return to Work
- Substance Use Disorders by Occupation
- Substance Use Disorder Treatment
- Substance Use, Gender and Sexual Orientation
- Substance Use: Prevention, Screening Tools and Workplace Policies
- Turnover and Substance Use: What It Costs and What Can Be Done
Substance Use Cost Calculator for U.S. Employers: Overview of Data Sources and Analytic Approach - Overview of cost calculator methodology.
Substance Use Employer Cost Calculator - Developed in partnership with NORC at the University of Chicago, the National Safety Council’s cost calculator provides a tool for estimating the cost substance use to employers taking into account industry, geography, and company size.
The Proactive Role Employers Can Take: Opioids in The Workplace - Saving Jobs, Saving Lives and Reducing Human Costs. National Safety Council publication providing current evidence on opioid pain medications and their potential impact on your workplace and offers a “call to action” to assist employers in: 1) Partnering effectively with benefit providers; 2) Assessing current workplace policies and scope of drug testing; 3) Prioritize essential education efforts; and, 4) Improve access to confidential help for employees.
Training and Supporting Supervisors in Addressing Substance Use is a brief guide that can help inform training and support for supervisors in addressing substance use in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Red Cross
Group Training for a Safer Workplace - Training for First Aid, CPR, automated external defibrillator (AED) and basic life support (BLS)
Resources for Law Firms, the Legal Profession, and Other Organizations that Employ Attorneys
The ABA Well-Being Campaign was launched to improve the substance use and mental health landscape of the legal profession, with an emphasis on helping legal employers support healthy work environment. The primary vehicle for the Campaign is a Pledge calling upon legal employers (including law firms, corporate entities, government agencies and legal aid organizations) to first: (a) recognize that substance use and mental health problems represent a significant challenge for the legal profession and acknowledge that more can and should be done to improve the health and well-being of lawyers; and, (b) pledge to support the Campaign and work to adopt and prioritize its seven-point framework for building a better future.
American Bar Association Directory of Lawyer Assistance Programs - Lawyer Assistance Programs provide confidential services and support to judges, lawyers and law students who are facing substance use disorders or mental health issues.
Intervention and Impairment Assistance – American Bar Association Guidance for attorneys, law firms, and other entities employing lawyers
SAFE Project
No Shame Movement includes a pledge to end stigma and support others in speaking up about their own mental health and substance use disorders.
No Shame Toolkit, a social media toolkit developed to help stakeholders support the "No Shame Movement".
SAFE Workplaces initiative makes available a range of resources to help employers better address SUD and mental health conditions in the workforce.
Second Chance Business Coalition
The Business Case for Second Chance Employment - Describes how companies can benefit from second chance programs.
U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Employer Guide to Second Chance Hiring Programs and Tax Credits - Provides information on WOTC, the Federal Bonding Program, and the U.S. Department of Labor’s Growth Opportunities Grant Program.
How the Public and Private Sectors Can Implement Second-Chance Hiring, includes video and resources links, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Raise Your Recovery Awareness in the Workplace (Blog Post) - Recommendations for employers.
Sharing Solutions: Businesses Combat the Opioid Crisis - Sharing Solutions was created by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to highlight workforce resources and showcase innovative solutions to the opioid crisis.