More than 70 percent of Missouri employers suffer consequences due to drug misuse. Nearly 50 percent of those surveyed said their business has experienced absenteeism due to drugs and 19 percent have experienced accidents tied to substance use disorder. Nearly 40 percent of survey respondents cited decreased productivity due to substance use disorder.
It is a growing problem for Missouri employers, which is why the Missouri Chamber is proud to partner with the University of Missouri Extension and other stakeholders in support of the Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative, an effort aimed at providing free resources for employers to better identify workers suffering from substance misuse and help them recover.
Smaller employers struggle most. While 93 percent of Missouri businesses with more than 300 employers provide an employee assistance program, this drops to 59 percent among businesses with 25-99 employees and only 27 percent among those with fewer than 25 employees.
To fill this void, the University of Missouri Extension currently offers free training for businesses to become designated as a Recovery Friendly Workplace. Developing a credential is the next phase in creating a certification for businesses and human resource managers.
The next step in the development of this credential is an employee survey to provide more insights about substance use in the workplace. It is open to all employees, and they don’t have to be involved in recovery or addiction. The survey’s purpose is to gather data that will be used in the development of the Recovery Friendly Workplace credential in Missouri. We would appreciate it if you could share this with your employees to provide their valuable input. The survey will take approximately 10 minutes and responses are anonymous.
The survey may be accessed through this link: https://missouri.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_eKIBuDTjfm3hF9c
For more information about the Missouri Chamber’s involvement in the Recovery Friendly Workplace Initiative, contact Karen Buschmann, Missouri Chamber vice president of marketing and communications, at kbuschmann@mochamber.com.
