Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace (#11)
The UK will lose an estimated £1.7 billion in alcohol-related sick days this year.
The TUC claims 60% of employers have had staff problems caused by drinking and at least 27% by drug abuse although it’s likely to be much higher because of the illegal nature of most drugs. With an estimated 1.5 million people addicted to over the counter drugs, UK employers need to ensure their workplace drug and alcohol policies and processes are fit for purpose in 2024.
An all-new HR Risk Forum will unpack key areas including:
- How workplace culture can change to tackle drug and alcohol misuse
- What employers should be doing right now to prevent reputational, financial and psychological damage
- Testing: who, why, when and how
- The balance between work and private life
- Key elements of an updated policy
Does your organisation have a drug and alcohol policy?
Recent research showed an alarming number of organisations don’t have a policy, with training and education proving difficult in a fragmented and remote workplace. Red flags can go unnoticed, and often the issue goes unsupported.
This forum will examine what to look for and how to support employees, when discipline is necessary and what legal imperatives should inform your policy. Expert speakers will outline the risks of not tackling the issue and what a robust policy looks like.
We are accepting questions before and during the broadcast. Please send your questions to elizabeth.smith@bfi.co.uk.
Run this course in-house, and tailor the content to suit your organisation, find out more here
Schedule
Welcome and introduction
Elizabeth Smith
Director of Research , Business Forums International Ltd. (BFI)
Elizabeth is director of research and a founding co-director at Business Forums International. She is responsible for all programme content and writing, and researches current areas of interest for senior HR professionals in large organisations. BFI is the UK’s leading HR risk specialist conference and training provider, delivering key and timely information to over 3,000 delegates a year both through public and in-house training courses. Before founding BFI in 1996, Elizabeth specialised in researching corporate financial programmes in Asia and the Middle East, based in Dubai. She also worked in advertising and publishing in the Middle East and London. Elizabeth was educated in the West Indies, Saudi Arabia and Belgium before reading Modern Languages at Durham University. She is currently developing an online training course for line managers to raise awareness of menopause symptoms and ways that employers can work to make their workplaces more inclusive.
How workplace culture can change to tackle drug and alcohol misuse
- What employers should be doing right
- Testing: who, why, when and how
- The balance between work and private life