One in three UK employees are aware of people who are under the influence of drugs at work, according to research published today.
The survey of over 8000 people from across the UK by recruitment site reed.co.uk reveals that a third are aware of someone who had been under the influence of or is actually taking illicit drugs at work.
The Media and Service industries are the worst affected with 41% of employees being aware of people being under the influence or taking drugs at work, followed by the distribution industry where 39% of people are aware of drugs in the workplace.
Worryingly, one in five workers feel mixing illegal drugs and work has become more acceptable over the last five years. This figure rises to one in four in the Media sector. Londoners top the regional league of areas where drugs at work have become more acceptable.
Overall, Cannabis was the drug believed to be most frequently used at work, according to half of the respondents. One in four believed Class A drug Cocaine was being taken at work, followed by Speed, cited by 19%.
Perhaps most worrying of all, 6% of respondents believed Heroine was taken during the working day, more than the 5% who believed Ecstasy was taken and the 2% who cited Acid.
Of the respondents who admitted they took drugs at work, one in four took Cocaine whilst three out of four admitted smoking Cannabis at work.
However, nearly three out of four would actively choose to work for a company with a drug testing policy rather than one without, if given the choice of two equal job offers. 71% chose a company with a random drug testing policy, compared to only 26% who would pick the company without such a policy.