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Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace – Advice and Resources

Drugs and Alcohol in the Workplace – Advice and Resources

by | Jan 31, 2023 | Health and Wellbeing

Drugs and alcohol: Impact of misuse at work

Drugs and alcohol in the workplace, particularly with their misuse, can have significant consequences affecting health, safety, wellbeing and productivity of individuals, teams and employers. As ‘Dry January’ comes to an end, social media is flooded with posts and reels from people heading to the pub, desperate to catch up on the drink they’ve missed out on in the last 31 days. And while over-indulging may not seem like a work-related offence, the consequences for behaviour arising from ‘overdoing it’ can lead to short and long term problems in the workplace.

According to the Health and Safety Executive, alcohol is a factor in up to 1 in 4 accidents in the workplace and responsible for 3-5% of work absences, totalling more than 11 million lost working days each year and over £6 billion lost in productivity.

In addition to this, the CPD found that around a third of employers have disciplined someone in the past 2 years for substance misuse

If you’re a line manager, supervisor, team leader, HR representative, or anyone who oversees staff in the workplace, you may not realise how you can help reduce workplace substance abuse. Working closely with employees, you’re in the ideal position to be able to identify the signs and symptoms of alcohol and drug abuse and help implement preventative strategies.

.Just one person in a workplace who is affected by drugs and alcohol can increase risk for the entire team. Addressing this issue before it becomes a problem is key. Before we can fully explore how you can help, we need to consider why people misuse substances and what the workplace impact can be.

Why do people take drugs?

A person taking a drug may have many different reasons for using that drug, many of them legal and reasonable. However, any drug has the potential to be misused and therefore have negative implications for an employee’s work and their workplace.  Reasons people may take drugs include:

  • Medical Needs
  • Dependence
  • Self-Medication
  • Recreation
  • Pain Relief
  • Physical improvement
  • Stress Relief
  • Emotional support
  • Habit
  • Performance Enhancement
  • Mental Health
  • Peer Pressure
  • Habit

Drug misuse occurs when a drug is used in a way that can affect work performance, conduct or when using compromises the health and safety of oneself and others.

Why are drugs and alcohol an issue for the workplace?

Misusing drugs can have a big impact – on an individual’s health, on society and consequently in the workplace.

The side effects of drug and alcohol misuse are wide and varied. In the workplace they may affect a person’s perception and the way they think and feel which can impair concentration and judgement and put themselves and others at risk of accidents. Even drugs such as alcohol and painkillers can affect an individual’s ability to drive or operate machinery for some time after consumption.

Employee health and wellbeing is central to a business. When organisations struggle to manage substance abuse properly, they may experience:

  • Reduced productivity levels
  • Increased illness in staff leading to higher levels of absence
  • A loss of morale in the organisation
  • Damage to the reputation of the company and its owners
  • Broken relationships between employees, managers, and customers
  • Accidents in the workplace
  • Legal costs

Physical and mental health in the workplace have become increasingly important for all employees and substance misuse can affect health both physically and psychologically. Increasing drug awareness in the workplace helps to reduce illness, accidents and injuries relating to substance misuse and increases health, wellness, and productivity.

An organisation that supports employees to make healthier choices is more likely to prosper, bringing greater benefits for all.

Drugs and alcohol at work – How can you help?

Everyone has a responsibility to be aware of the risks of substance abuse and how to minimise the impact it can have. As employees spend so much of their lives at work, workplaces present great opportunities for early detection, intervention, and support.

In addition to upholding their key responsibilities under the law relating to drugs and alcohol, managers are at the forefront for prevention and it’s essential that you have the skills and knowledge to identify and manage problems as they arise. Taking a proactive approach benefits everyone.

In essence, if workplaces have the policies and procedures to handle drug and alcohol misuse properly, they can become settings that can promote the health of workers and influence the health of their families and community.

Drug and alcohol misuse at work : How can managers help?

As a manager, it’s important that you educate yourself and receive the correct Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training to allow you to identify and tackle substance misuse issues as they arise.

You could also consider becoming involved in promoting and supporting employee wellbeing through using advisory services, notice boards, awareness days and health campaigns such as Dry January or Stoptober.

For additional information and resources, you could contact:

If you’re interested in Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training for Managers or Employees, have a look at our online courses, written with industry experts, they contain everything you need to help you understand and identify the potential signs and risks of misuse, and offer support to address potential issues.

You may also like to consider other courses from our Health and Wellbeing Course Catalogue including our popular Mental Health Awareness Online Course.

Why is Wellbeing Training Important?

Why is Wellbeing Training Important?

by | Sep 27, 2022 | Health and Wellbeing

For a number of years, workplaces have been accustomed to providing support and training for the safety of their staff. We all understand the importance of preventing a bad back by using the correct chair, or where to find the fire exits in case of emergency. However, it’s only in more recent times that organisations have started to realise that there are far more factors affecting employee wellbeing than just the potential physical risks.

In the coming weeks, wellbeing awareness will be at the forefront of our minds, with social media campaigns supporting World Mental Health Day, World Menopause Day and Stress Awareness Day. These aren’t just days for employees to focus on their own wellbeing, but opportunities for workplaces to raise awareness, start conversations, and support and implement change.

RealSense - Why is wellbeing training important?

What is Workplace Wellbeing?

In the workplace, an employer has a duty of care to support the health of all their employees – both physically and mentally. Workplace wellbeing focuses on holistic health and supporting employees as individuals. Employees might need help with their mental health, with managing stress or during time of transition such as the menopause. This could be given by providing training, raising awareness, modifying workplace conditions or helping to overcome stigma. The CIPD states that:

‘Investing in employee wellbeing can lead to increased resilience, better employee engagement, reduced sickness absence and higher performance and productivity. However, wellbeing initiatives often fall short of their potential because they stand alone, isolated from the everyday business. To gain real benefit, employee wellbeing priorities must be integrated throughout an organisation, embedded in its culture, leadership and people management‘

A HSE report published in 2020 shows statistics from the Labour Force Survey 2019/20 found that 51% of all work-related illness was attributed to stress, depression or anxiety. Some of the possible causes for this statistic may be helped and reduced if an employee has workplace support.

Mental Health is about how a person thinks, feels, and behaves. Around 25% of the UK population will experience a mental health problem at some stage in their lives.

Stress is the adverse reaction people have to excessive pressures or other types of demand placed upon them (HSE). Unhealthy stress affects health and wellbeing and also significantly reduces productivity and engagement, both at home and at work.

Menopause (or Perimenopause) is when a woman stops having periods. This transitional phase may last for number of years and can cause multiple physical and emotional symptoms that affect wellbeing, productivity and mental health.

Signs that Wellbeing Support is Needed

As many as 75% of employees say they find their jobs so stressful that they would consider leaving. As we spend around one third of our time at work, creating a mentally well, stress-free work environment is incredibly important.

RealSense - Why is wellbeing training important?

Signs of stress in an employee can also be similar to signs and symptoms of menopause or a mental health condition. These can all include (but are not limited to):

  • They may be unable to concentrate
  • They could have increased periods of absence from work
  • More frequent late arrivals
  • Eating more or less than usual
  • Drinking more, smoking excessively, or taking drugs to cope
  • They may be more tired than usual due to problems with sleep
  • You may notice mood swings
  • You may notice them withdrawing more
  • They may lose motivation/confidence
  • You may notice increased emotional reactions such as increased nervousness, tearfulness, or aggression

All workplaces can benefit from training their staff to understand and recognise the signs of stress, menopause and mental ill health in the workplace.

Supporting Wellbeing – Prevention is Better than Cure

Prior to the Covid-19 pandemic, a number of organisations approached us, asking for help with starting the mental health conversation in their workplaces. Since then, the number of organisations seeking support for their employees has increased drastically. Many people still struggle to discuss stress or mental wellbeing at work, or are unsure how to raise it with their employer or employee. Using wellbeing training can help you to raise awareness of mental health issues, educate about menopause, reduce stigma around stress, and build a supportive, inclusive culture for the long term. Here’s how:

Raise awareness – providing awareness training helps everyone understand how support their own wellbeing and that of others. Courses that provide information about wellness and self-care can also show employees how to eliminate or reduce more harmful lifestyle factors such as smoking or drinking excessively, and teach them to and implement wellbeing strategies such as exercise and good sleep hygiene. Being informed and educated also helps you and your employees to support colleagues who may be struggling.

Reduce stigma – opening the conversation and leading by example helps break down the stigma around stress, mental health and menopause. If your team understand the prevalence of an issue, they are more likely to take it seriously and respond accordingly.

Enable employees / Encourage early intervention to help recovery – training can help to build resilience and give employees tools and techniques to manage and support their own wellbeing. Highlighting potential issues rather than ignoring or dismissing potential problems can lead to early intervention.

Build an inclusive culture ­– inclusive workforces are often more motivated, engaged, and productive. Providing wellbeing training and support allows employees to safely feel vulnerable and increases shared experiences amongst colleagues. If everyone feels encouraged and supported, the wellbeing of your team will naturally increase.

Know how to support others – by learning how to spot signs and symptoms of stress or mental ill health, employers, line managers, and employees will be more able to provide support when it’s needed. Increasing employee confidence in talking about menopause in the workplace means that they will also find it easier to ask for help themselves.

Wellbeing Awareness Training

Using online courses give your team easy access to their training, at a time and place that suits them. Providing awareness training demonstrates workplace commitment to wellbeing and allows employees to feel supported and appreciated.

Here’s a summary of our most popular wellbeing awareness training courses. We also design and develop bespoke e-learning, specifically tailored to the needs of organisations. So, if you’re struggling to find exactly what you need to support stress, menopause, or mental health in the workplace, don’t hesitate to ask us for help.

Mental Health Awareness Training

We created this interactive training course in collaboration with leadership and coaching specialists Zentano and psychotherapist Andy Flack to give learners a greater understanding of mental health, whilst promoting a healthy and supportive working environment. The course helps you to understand how common mental health issues are, and explores mental health strategies. This training also makes sure that all learners know how to confidently talk to someone about mental health issues.

This practical course is loaded with information about improving and maintaining mental health, and includes an interactive ‘tips to manage worry’ section. It also explores ‘tips for maintaining a healthy work/life balance’ as well as explaining the importance of sleep, exercise, and diet. You’ll also hear about ‘tips to manage your mood and emotions’, and find out lots of information about how to support and talk to someone who may be struggling with their mental health.

Menopause Awareness Training

There are currently approximately 13 million UK women who are perimenopausal or menopausal, equivalent to almost one third of the UK female population. More women than ever – 8 out of 10 menopausal women – will be working into and beyond menopause. Many women are unaware of and unprepared for menopause, and may experience debilitating symptoms. Raising awareness through education to normalise what has been a taboo subject, is crucial to create an inclusive workplace. It is important that all individuals in the workplace understand the process of menopause, as everyone will know someone that it may affect – colleagues, partners, family or friends.

Menopause Awareness Training helps explain the menopause process in an easy to understand way and explores the impact it can have in the workplace. Loaded with support, advice, hints and tips, this course also importantly addresses the importance of sharing experiences with colleagues and line managers, and explains how to approach sensitive conversations. A must-have course for all workplaces.

Stress Awareness Training

With more than 17.9 million working days being lost to stress, depression or anxiety, workplaces need to tackle this growing issue by providing support and resources for employees. Both work-related stress and stress encountered in your personal life can affect an employee’s health, wellbeing and productivity levels.

Stress Awareness Training arms your employees with information about the causes of stress and the positive actions that can be taken to help manage stress. With an explanation of the different types of stress, and comprehensive strategies that can be used by everybody, this course will become an essential part of your workplace training.

If you need more inspiration, take a look at our Health and Wellbeing Course Catalogue where you may also be interested in Drug and Alcohol Awareness Training or Homeworking Online Training to further support the wellbeing of your team.

What can I do to help tackle Modern Slavery in the UK workplace?

What can I do to help tackle Modern Slavery in the UK workplace?

by | Jul 21, 2022 | Corporate Governance

At the end of this month, July 30th 2022 marks the World Day Against Trafficking in Persons and reminds us that many forms of Modern Slavery are still a problem across the world today. All organisations have a duty to play their part in raising awareness and working together to eradicate the existence of both slavery and trafficking. According to the United Nations, in 2018 about 50,000 human trafficking victims were detected and reported by 148 countries.

Modern Slavery can take many forms including the trafficking of people, forced labour, servitude or slavery. According to Gov.UK : ‘Any consent victims have given to their treatment will be irrelevant where they have been coerced, deceived or provided with payment or benefit to achieve that consent’. But Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking are not just an international problem. The impacts of these crimes are still seen and felt every day in the United Kingdom.

A new BBC Documentary, The Real Mo Farah has this week revealed that Sir Mo Farah was brought to the UK as a child, given a false name, and forced to work as a domestic servant. According to the BBC, Sir Mo said he had to do housework and child care in exchange for food and had his relative’s contact details taken from him and destroyed. While his case has caused outrage in the media, sadly his story is still all too common.

Statistics about Modern Slavery in the UK

In 2020, the Office of National Statistics published a report setting out the challenges of producing an accurate measure of how prevalent Modern Slavery is in the UK because of its’ hidden nature. They provided statistics taken from the National Referral Mechanism which showed that:

  • In 2020, more than 10,00 potential victims of Modern Slavery were referred to the National Referral Mechanism
  • 63% of victims claimed their exploitation had happened in the UK and 26% said that it had happened overseas
  • Male victims increased from 68% in 2019 to 74% in 2020

Modern Slavery can take many different forms, but increasingly cases of human trafficking, labour exploitation and debt bondage are appearing in the UK workplace. Modern slavery can exist anywhere – in larger organisations where goods are imported and exported and also in our communities, local businesses and households. Complex supply chains can often allow forced labour to thrive, and companies with a significant UK market presence often indirectly rely on people working in slavery to produce the goods they sell, or may have supply chains that can encourage trafficking.

Numerous companies subcontract their services or have supply chains managed by external staff which often unintentionally masks or hides a company’s involvement in trafficking or slavery. According to antislavery.org, “Human Trafficking exists because vulnerable people are often willing to take big risks in order to provide for their families”. Traffickers exploit and manipulate human emotions for their own gain, often promising victims they can make their dreams come true or change their lives – frequently offering jobs, accommodation, and wages which never materialise. Victims may find that they have to give up their passport, pay a trafficking debt or pay ‘commission’ to their traffickers.

They can be left trapped in a different country with no possessions and no means to return. Victims then become reliant upon their traffickers and may face threats and violence if they refuse to work. And so the cycle continues. On a local basis or in small-scale industries, many of us may struggle to believe that Human Trafficking could be happening in our local area or in companies in our community. Sadly, this is the case. People can be exploited in the farming industry, in construction, beauty and hospitality, and even when working in other people’s homes. In fact, any role that involves people being trafficked to work for very low pay, or even none at all, is modern-day slavery in action.

Using and Abusing Technology in Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

This year, the theme for World Trafficking day focuses on the role of technology as a tool that can both enable and impede human trafficking. The United Nations explain that: ‘With the global expansion in the use of technology – intensified by the COVID-19 pandemic and the shift of our everyday life to online platforms – the crime of human trafficking has conquered cyber space. The internet and digital platforms offer traffickers numerous tools to recruit, exploit, and control victims; organize their transport and accommodation; advertise victims and reach out to potential clients; communicate among perpetrators; and hide criminal proceeds – and all that with greater speed, cost-effectiveness and anonymity’. However, technology can also be used to impede and prevent human trafficking and modern slavery.

The internet gives organisations a platform to pool and share resources and gather digital evidence against the crimes being committed. Online resources can also be used to prevent modern slavery by training and educating workforces through e-learning as well as awareness-raising activities on the safe use of the internet and social media. Raising awareness and providing education gives people the tools to be alert to the dangers of modern slavery, as well as helping to prevent them falling victim to it themselves.

Training and Educating your Workforce to help prevent Modern Slavery and Human Trafficking

The Modern Slavery Act (2015) law sets out the UK Government’s legal requirements for how organisations must address and report on modern slavery. This law applies to any company doing business in the UK with an annual turnover of £36 million or more and states they must produce annual statements about how they are tackling Modern Slavery. However, all organisations, regardless of size, have a responsibility to ensure their staff are aware that the problem exists and to know what they can do to help eradicate it and provide support for victims.

Many companies now request evidence of an ethical supply chain as a part of their working policies to ensure that all individuals remain free from Modern Slavery and are treated fairly and justly, and their Human Rights are supported. By recognising and talking about this issue, employers also help to raise awareness amongst their employees.

Implementing staff training such as that provided in our Modern Slavery Awareness Training Course is essential to help teach all staff about the issue of trafficking and the problem of modern slavery in workforces across the UK through educating and informing. By providing relevant, reputable information, you can ensure that your staff have all the knowledge they need to keep your workplace operating ethically and fairly.

What signs of Modern Slavery or Trafficking might I notice in the Workplace?

There are a number of general indicators of modern slavery and trafficking that everybody should know about. These include (but are not limited to):

Legal Documents

Is the person in possession of their own documents? (Passport, bank details etc). Victims often have to give possession of these to someone else or may have to use false or forged ID documents.

Living Arrangements

Does the person know where they live? Victims may not know their home or work address, they may live in poor, sub-standard or unsuitable accommodation and have no choice about where they live or who they live with. Victims of trafficking may also live in excessively large groups in the same place

Working Conditions

Do they have a contract? Can they choose how or where they work? A person may not be given time off work or could be forced to work long hours over long periods. Victims of trafficking or modern slavery may also be reluctant to share any personal information with their colleagues.

Medical Care

Does the person have untreated injuries? Are they reluctant to seek help or see a health care professional? A person might be vague about how their injuries occured or dismiss your concerns.

Physical Appearance

Does the person appear malnourished or withdrawn? A person might wear the same clothes every day, not be dressed adequately for work, or be without protective or warm clothing. They could also have unexplained injuries.

Finances

Does the person seem to be in debt to someone else or dependent on someone else for money? Victims may receive little or no payment for their work, have no access to their own money or be controlled or punished financially. Behaviour Is the person withdrawn or frightened? Can they answer questions and speak for themselves? A person may appear under the influence or control of others or be unable to provide basic facts. If you suspect that someone is in slavery, do not confront them or try to fix it yourself as this could lead to increased harm for them. Instead, inform relevant authorities or organisations such as the Modern Slavery Helpline on 08000 121 700 or if necessary call the Police.

If you would like more information about how we can support your staff training and help raise your employees’ awareness of Modern Slavery, take a look at our Modern Slavery Awareness Online Training which forms part of our Corporate Governance suite of courses. As well as offering our e-learning Modern Slavery course, we can work with your organisation to design and develop bespoke learning solutions, tailor-made to suit your business needs, and reflect your organisation’s ethos and policies on Modern Slavery.