When you’re hurting for employees, you may think the last thing you want to do is make it more difficult to source new hires by having a drug testing policy. However, having a drug-free workplace at your landscape company has numerous benefits.
Why Implement Drug Testing
Drug testing can seem like an unnecessary hoop for new employees to jump through when dealing with an already limited labor pool. However, Tim Lake, president of T. Lake Environmental Design, based in Dublin, Georgia, points out that if you’re not testing, you have no defense if a fatality or an accident lands you in court.
“We have to send a message to our employees that it is not acceptable to be under the influence of drugs while you’re working at Landscape Workshop,” says J.T. Price, CEO of Landscape Workshop, based in Birmingham, Alabama.
Gerry Bower, president/CEO of Total Lawn Care, LLC, based in Weslaco, Texas, says they have been drug testing employees since he started his company 25 years ago. Bower says he drug tests because it is all about his responsibility to protect others. He doesn’t want to put the safety of the rest of the team at risk.
Emily McNeil, human resources manager for Piscataqua Landscaping & Tree Service, based in Eliot, Maine, agrees that safety is paramount for their employees, clients and community. She adds that they also drug test their employees so they can obtain a DOT medical card.
“For candidates and current employees who hold a CDL (Commercial Driver’s License), drug testing is a federal requirement,” McNeil says. “Both credentials, DOT and CDL, allow employees to operate machinery over a certain weight.”
Rob Ambler, president of Ambler Industries, based in Furlong, Pennsylvania, says he started drug testing in 2018 after an employee overdosed on heroin in the company bathroom.
“He was passed out,” Ambler says. “Blue in the face, blue around his lips, barely breathing, and he’d fallen, and hit his head and so he was bleeding.”
They called 911, and the employee came to right before the first responders were about to administer naloxone. Ambler says it was one of the worst experiences of his professional life.
“That was when I was like, I can’t subject my employees to this type of nonsense,” Ambler says. “I also can’t subject my customers to this. I said I’m not going to hire anybody that I wouldn’t feel safe with working at my house and going in my house to be with my wife and family. That was the day that I said, ‘We’re drug testing. I don’t care if we have to lose 15 employees. We’re going to drug test.’ Best decision I ever made, no doubt about it.”
Benefits of Drug Testing
Since implementing drug testing, Ambler says his company culture improved drastically.
“It didn’t hurt us one bit with finding people, and now we find better people,” Ambler says.
He adds that the first year Ambler Industries started drug testing, their revenue went up by 10%, and they did it with six fewer employees.
“Having that in the workplace and the risk of that with your clients and that reputation getting out there, I’ll work with way fewer guys and do less business than put up with that,” Ambler says.
Lake agrees that having a drug-free workplace ensures you have a higher-quality workforce, as it helps raise the bar.
“We’re in Georgia; some days it’s 100 degrees and 90% humidity,” Lake says. “If you got to get out there and get after it 10 hours a day like we do, you have to be physically, emotionally and mentally fit. It takes all three.”
Lake says it also provides peace of mind for employees knowing they’re riding in a truck with someone who’s not under the influence of a substance.
“We want that bar to be high here for our customers, for our families, for the rest of our employees,” Lake says. “In every part of your life, hold the bar higher; don’t drop the bar lower.”
Bower says it provides a better quality of environment for your personnel as it’s not a very positive atmosphere when one person on a three-person crew doesn’t abuse drugs but the other two do. He believes it’s part of the reason they’ve been able to retain their employees long-term, and being a drug-free workplace is part of being a destination employer. Ambler says in the past, employees would quit because they didn’t want to work with drug users.
“I lost people because they’re like, ‘I’m not going to truck with Joey over here. I’m too scared to say anything, so I’m just going to quit,’” Ambler says. “Put yourself in that position. If you’re going to work with a guy who’s shooting up three or four times a day in your truck, would you keep working? I wouldn’t. It doesn’t matter how much you get paid or how much you like the job; I want to go home and see my family.”
Drug testing also improves your overall safety. McNeil says they have had few to no incidents with drugs at their workplace thanks to their frequent and ongoing testing requirements.
“It’s hard to define because you never know that you’ve avoided a safety incident or a tragedy,” Price says. “We hope that we have been a safer organization because of our drug-free workplace policy.”
Ambler says they’ve seen a noticeable reduction in incidents and the cost of repairs. Their reputation in the community has changed as well.
“Safety-wise, it’s made the damage on properties so much less, and we’re so much bigger now than we were at that time,” Ambler says. “Our damages are a quarter of what it was then.”
Bower says they also experience less damage to their equipment.
“If they’re going to put that heroin in their body, they don’t care about themselves,” Ambler says. “Why would they care about me and my business, my equipment, and the other people they’re working with?”
One benefit that may vary depending on your locations and programs available is worker’s comp savings. Lake says Georgia has a drug-free workplace program that started in 2006 that gives his company a 7.5% discount on their workers’ comp.
Additionally, drug testing can provide a sense of safety and security to your customers. Ambler and Lake use this as a selling feature to customers, as not everyone in their service areas conducts drug testing. Price notes that some clients require drug testing, so it can open more opportunities for your business.
“It’s a big check mark when you have that policy,” Bower says. “They come and say, ‘Do you have a drug testing policy?’ Yes. ‘Okay, well, we will use you then because if you didn’t, we’re not going to use you.’”
Challenges to Be Aware Of
Choosing to drug test has many benefits, but it’s also advisable to talk to your legal counsel when developing your drug testing policy, as what is permissible will vary by state.
You also want to document any time you’re testing an employee under suspicion to avoid discriminatory lawsuits. Ambler recommends getting EPLI insurance as it helps cover if there is a discrimination lawsuit where someone claimed they were getting drug tested because they were a minority.
“We believe in investigating and meeting with an employee first, before any action is taken such as reasonable suspicion, random drug testing and/or termination of employment,” McNeil says.
The cost of drug testing is another barrier that might keep you from starting a drug-free workplace. Depending on the test and location, these can run anywhere from $30 to $70. Ambler opts to buy test kits in a pack that will flag an employee for a drug before taking an employee to a doctor screening.
“I tell them, ‘We have two options at this point,’” Ambler says. “’The test that I just ran on you is pretty accurate. It’s going to cost some money to do a drug test at the doctor. If I take you to the doctor and you fail again, I’m going to be pretty upset because I just spent more money and more time. If you’re using, please just tell me now.’ Rarely do we make it to the doctor.”
One major challenge of drug testing is the legality of marijuana and whether its presence in an employee’s system is a fireable offense.
“How much is okay?” Bower says. “It’s tough to figure that out. We use HR consultants. We talk to our peers. We just work through it. That’s been the challenge is the legalization or approval of having it, and we treat it just like alcohol.”
Bower says they test for marijuana, but for them, it’s a question of how much is too much. He says if an employee does test positive for marijuana, they will send them back to test if the individual was intoxicated and a danger or not.
Lake says marijuana is the drug that shows up the most in their screenings.
“Our thing is it’s still illegal in most places,” Lake says. “Even if it’s legal, it is still not something you can do at work, or you can’t be under the influence of it at work, because if you cause an accident and we go to court, it’s still going to say THC showed up in this person’s system.”
Lake says they refined their recruiting efforts to reduce the number of positive drug tests during the pre-employment phase.
“We let people know the moment that they show up, the moment that they come through our career page, that there will be a pre-employment drug screen, and there will be follow-up random drug screens,” Lake says. “We’re a drug-free workplace, so you need to understand that. We don’t want to embarrass anybody. So we say, ‘If you feel that that’s an issue for you, you might want to reconsider submitting your application.’”
McNeil says they opt to follow the recommendations of the testing facility as what drugs to not test for.
“Marijuana frequently comes on and off the recommended list (for non-CDL drivers) because the facility has the same issue between local state and federal policies regarding marijuana use,” she says.
Ambler says they don’t fail for marijuana. He says many of their employees have medical cards, and the drug can be detected in urine samples for a month or longer depending on how often an individual uses it.
“We don’t screen for it,” Ambler says. “It’s the opioids that are the problem.”
When it comes to the question of privacy and employees partaking in substances in their free time, Lake tells new hires up front how they behave when they’re in Walmart and when they’re at home has an impact on how people perceive his company.
“Your time is your time, but what you do in your time has a bearing on whether I want you to be representing my company or not and whether I want you driving my truck,” Lake says.
Price agrees that they expect their employees to abide by their policy.
“I get the privacy issues, but on the other hand, your colleagues are entitled to a safe workplace,” Price says. “If you’re going to do something that’s going to put other people in danger, you can’t work here.”
Lake acknowledges that some owners prefer not to know, but by not drug testing, you risk your company’s reputation and liability and losing the kind of employees you want at your organization.
“If you are truly committed to creating a safe environment for your employees, you need to have standards,” Price says.
This article was published in the Sept/Oct issue of the magazine. To read more stories from The Edge magazine, click here to subscribe to the digital edition.
