By Bill Current, President & Founder
The Best Candidate for the Job Can Pass a Pre-Employment Drug Test
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Have you ever heard the old expression that there are “lies, damn lies, and statistics?”
I know statistics can be twisted to support virtually any narrative, but they usually also hold some truth. I have made a career out of researching every study, report, survey, and white paper I could find about drug testing and workplace drug abuse. In fact, I have written several books chocked full of statistics. In 1992, while serving as the Director of the Institute for a Drug-Free Workplace, I wrote a book called “Does Drug Testing Work?” It was a collection of all the statistics people were using in those days to justify drug testing though rarely citing the sources of their stats. So, I included the sources so there was a way to verify every claim that was being made.
The Nuts and Bolts of Statistics
There are two kinds of surveys, studies, or reports, the ones that are time-sensitive and must be updated regularly, and the ones that are timeless, the results of which remain valid for many years. For instance, how many people use marijuana changes every year and reports must be updated annually to accurately reflect usage trends. But a study on how marijuana effects workers trying to perform safety-sensitive jobs rarely if ever needs to be updated; after all, it’s not as if users somehow become better at being impaired.
There are several studies that I cited in “Does Drug Testing Work?” that fall into the latter category of statistics, the kind that are more or less timeless. Some of these reports are “oldies but goodies,” but they are as relevant now as they were when they first came out. One example is a study conducted by the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) that attempted to determine if there was a correlation between drug use and job performance. The findings were groundbreaking at the time.
The USPS Survey: Summarized
A 1994 book entitled “Under the Influence? Drugs and the American Work Force,” which is summarized at the National Library of Medicine, includes information about several studies including the USPS report.[i] I highly recommend that website.
Beginning in September 1987, USPS drug tested 5,465 job applicants at 21 sites across the country. Test results were kept confidential and results were not considered during the hiring process. A total of 4,396 applicants were hired, including 395 who had tested positive (65% for marijuana, 24% for cocaine, and 11% for other drugs).
After about 8 months with USPS, employees from the test-positive group were absent at a rate 45% higher than those in the test-negative group. The test-positive group also showed a 40% higher dismissal rate compared with those who tested negative.
Over time, the gap in these key indicators of performance widened. After an average of 1.3 years on the job, the test-positive group showed a 59% higher rate of absenteeism and a 47% higher rate of involuntary separation or being terminated.
After 2.4 years, both the absenteeism and turnover gaps between the two groups increased again: the test-positive group’s absenteeism and termination rates were 66% and 69% higher, respectively, than the test-negative group.
Finally, after 3.3 years on the job, the disparity in absenteeism rates remained at 66%, but the disparity in termination rates had increased to 77%.
In an analysis of the reasons for leave (sick leave, leave without pay, and absent without official leave—AWOL) the greatest was for AWOLs, easily the most serious and negative reason for leave.
Finally, the study found that the test-positive group was more likely to be formally disciplined (a risk ratio of 2.44) and to experience problems requiring the services of a formal employee assistance program (EAP) (a risk ratio of 2.67).
Dollars & Cents
USPS determined that it would have saved approximately $4 million per year in lost productivity if it had not hired those who tested positive. That would be the equivalent of about $10.2 million in 2024.
The accrued savings for one class of new employees over their tenure was estimated at $52.7 million or $133 million in 2024.
Why is this Report Timeless?
Why is the USPS report a timeless report that is at least as relevant today as it was when it was first released? Because drug-using employees are still as unreliable as ever. It’s not as if drug users have spent the last 35 years learning how to be more reliable while maintaining their drug abuse lifestyles. Drug abuse still effects people the same way today as it did then, and that’s true in the workplace, on highways, and everywhere else in society.
Conclusion
Due to the difficulty some employers experience finding people to fill vacancies, they may be tempted to reconsider the value of pre-employment testing. Wouldn’t they be better off not knowing who the drug users are so they can put people to work? Well, probably not. Consider the following:
- A 2021 report from First Advantage, a major provider of employee screening programs, revealed that post-accident drug test results are significantly higher at companies that have stopped pre-employment testing for marijuana.[ii]
- A 2023 report from Quest Diagnostics found that positive post-accident tests for marijuana was at a 25-year high in 2022.[iii]
The sad truth is most drug users don’t make good employees. As the Postal Service report shows, they are less reliable and more likely to be involuntarily terminated… fired for being unreliable, not showing up for work, and a host of other performance-related issues. Despite the fact that we live in in the age of legal marijuana and increased drug-user rights, employers still have rights too, including the right to hire the best candidate for the job, which is usually someone who can pass a pre-employment drug test.
© 2010-2024 The Current Consulting Group, LLC – No portion of this article may be reproduced, retransmitted, posted on a website, or used in any manner without the written consent of the Current Consulting Group, LLC. When permission is granted to reproduce this article in any way, full attribution to the author and copyright holder is required.
[i] National Research Council (US) and Institute of Medicine (US) Committee on Drug Use in the Workplace; Editors: Jacques Normand, Richard O. Lempert, and Charles P. O’Brien. Washington (DC): National Academies Press (US); 1994. ISBN-10: 0-309-04885-0https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK236255/ [ii] Pre-Employment Drug Screening Correlated to Lower Post-Accident Drug Screening Positivity. First Advantage. 2021. file:///C:/Users/bcurr/Documents/Current%20Consulting%202023/First%20Advantage/Pre-Employment%20Drug%20Screening%20Correlated%20to%20Lower%20Post-Accident%20Drug%20Screening%20Positivity.pdf [iii] Post-Accident Workforce Drug Positivity for Marijuana Reached 25-Year High in 2022, Quest Diagnostics Drug Testing Index Analysis Finds. Quest Diagnostics. May 2023. https://newsroom.questdiagnostics.com/2023-05-18-Post-Accident-Workforce-Drug-Positivity-for-Marijuana-Reached-25-Year-High-in-2022,-Quest-Diagnostics-Drug-Testing-Index-Analysis-Finds
