Half of all UK organisations have no policy on drugs and alcohol, according to research by the Chartered Management Institute into drugs and alcohol misuse in the workplace.

The research reveals that only around half of all managers surveyed believe that their organisation has put in place – or is developing – a policy on drugs and alcohol, despite up to 14 million working days lost each year to alcohol-related problems and 27 per cent of organisations reporting issues due to employees’ misuse of drugs.

One in five managers surveyed also claim that alcohol misuse in their organisation has risen over the past few years and around one in six managers claim that drugs misuse has also increased. More than six in ten managers feel that it is the responsibility of employers to provide education on the effects of drugs and alcohol abuse, but only 19 per cent say that their organisation addresses the issue proactively.

“The results of this survey show that drugs and alcohol are becoming increasingly recognised as a major concern in the workplace,” comments Dr Chai Patel, Chief Executive of the Priory Group. “But it is very evident that a significant proportion of organisations have not yet put the resources or support in place to reduce the potential problems that misuse of these substances can cause.”

To combat this problem, 55 per cent of managers support random drugs and alcohol testing in the workplace. Interestingly, this policy is more popular with managers under 35. However, one in three managers feel that random testing would be an invasion of privacy yet over a quarter (26 per cent) of managers want to see those tested positively for drugs dismissed instantly.