If you carry out random drug testing on 5% of your team each month (60% yearly), you will:
- catch out people who are impaired at work
- create a culture of awareness where people don’t come to work impaired
The second reason is the biggest benefit of drug testing.
It’s similar to police carrying out roadside alcohol testing.
The possibility that there might be a checkpoint on the road tonight encourages people to plan ahead so they don’t drive drunk.
The possibility that there might be a random drug test tomorrow encourages people to avoid taking drugs which will impair them at work.
Like police checkpoints, drug testing needs to be:
- Regular (there’s a possibility that testing will be happening)
- Unpredictable (but I can’t predict with certainty whether they’ll be there, best to play it safe)
- Consequential (if I get caught out, I could lose my job… it’s not worth it)
- Ongoing (I’ve got away with it so far, but testing keeps happening and I know I’ll get caught out at some point)