Comprehensive Workplace Policies and Practices Regarding Employee Opioid Use

Abstract

The workplace is a key environment to impact employees, families, and communities to prevent further opioid and substance misuse, addiction, and overdose. However, it is often overlooked as an ideal location to launch a prevention intervention or support strategy. Employees in recovery, seeking treatment, and dealing with mental distress require employer support. Supports should consider the diversity of the work force and be culturally appropriate. Several data sources, tools, and other resources exist to aid employers in supporting their employees and addressing the opioid epidemic; a few from the National Safety Council are discussed. As well as suitable strategies to strengthen workplace prevention interventions and treatment access, in light of the opioid epidemic, coronavirus pandemic, and workplace disparities.

Workplace Context to Prevent Substance Misuse in the United States: Associations Between workplace Policies and Employee Substance Use Disorders

“…Comprehensive workplace policies that involve recovery-friendly workplace initiatives have also been shown to reduce employee opioid use (Cooper & Bixler, 2021; Imboden et al, 2021; Osborne et al, 2021; Rosen et al, 2021). Recent research suggests that workplace cultures that reduce stigma for workers with mental health or SUD issues can serve as effective prevention measures (Roche et al, 2015; Rosen et al, 2021; Seaton et al, 2019).…”

“…Despite evidence suggesting that workplace environments can serve as a critical access point for implementing public health interventions to reduce substance misuse and the development of SUDs in the adult population (Shaw et al, 2020), research shows that SUWPs have historically been undervalued and underutilized in the U.S. (Rosen et al, 2021). While recent studies have been able to identify relationships between SUWPs and trends in employee substance use patterns (Cooper & Bixler, 2021), a lack of knowledge still exists regarding the relationship between SUWPs and employee substance trends. The current study seeks to bridge that gap by exploring the effects of workplace policies on the development of employee SUDs.…”

“…Additionally, construction trade and extraction workers have been shown to be more likely to report past-month cocaine and nonmedical prescription opioid use (Ompad et al, 2019). The literature also shows that opioid prescription rates and hydrocodone shipments were positively correlated with the overall employment share in goods-producing industries (Bryson et al, 2022), and evidence suggests that higher prevalence rates of opioid use disorders among these populations can mainly be attributed to workplace injuries (Applebaum et al, 2019; Cooper & Bixler, 2021) and work-related stressors (Cooper & Bixler, 2021). A study regarding Australian construction workers’ illicit drug use also revealed that workplace climate factors such as substance availability, injunctive norms, and descriptive norms, were also associated with employee cannabis and meth/amphetamine use (Chapman et al, 2021).…”

The Relationship Between Workplace Drug Policies, Opioid Misuse, and Psychological Distress: Evidence From the 2020 National Survey on Drug Use and Health

“…These findings align with the notion that punitive workplace drug policies can exacerbate existing disparities in the social determinants of health that are more prevalent among BIPOC individuals such as lack of health care access, loss of social support networks, and greater instability due to precarious financial situations compounded by the negative health effects of racism. [47][48][49][50] Thus punitive workplace drug policies may worsen existing chronic stress giving rise to poorer health outcomes and increased psychological distress for BIPOC workers.…”

Effort–Reward Imbalance at Work and Drug Misuse: Evidence from a National Survey in the U.S.

“…This holds particularly true for opioids [ 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 ], cannabis [ 6 , 7 , 8 ], and benzodiazepines [ 9 , 10 ]. Increased emphasis on this topic resulted from practical concerns, most obviously from the documented excess mortality of opioid overdose among working people [ 1 , 3 , 11 ]. Several of these studies explored distinct stressful aspects within the complexities of modern work environments and the results suggest that psychosocial hazards are more prevalent than physical hazards [ 12 ].…”