Holiday parties can be breeding grounds for unlawful activity
As holiday parties begin in earnest this week, HR leaders understandably wary. It’s been a pretty hectic, disruptive, upsetting year – and of course employees are keen to let their hair down and have some fun with their colleagues. However, when workers start crossing the line – and using drugs in the workplace – it’s a whole other ballgame.
HRD spoke to Elena Cooper, employment consultant at Discreet Law, who advised HR leaders to hone their people policies before the festive period begins – or else face the fire.
“There are huge variants within the ‘drug using’ world - socially, once in a blue moon, frequently - what can an employer do if it knows or suspects an employee is using drugs? First, have a policy, it sets your standards, and will cost you peanuts to put in place. Second, ensure that, if this is a potential issue for your company, you contractually oblige employees to be drug tested.”
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“In practical terms though - this happens: your Christmas party is on site - the day after the party, you hear that a dozen or so employees went on to a club and five of them were taking cocaine. What do you do? With no policy in place and no obligation for employees to agree to drug testing, it's very unlikely that even a formal disciplinary warning will be appropriate. The employer is left with the ability to ‘have an informal word’ with those involved.”
And it’s not just drugs HR has to worry about. The festive period sees an increase in binge drinking – with some of that spilling over into the workplace. A report from the National Alcohol Strategy Working Group found that alcohol-related loss in productivity costs the Canadian economy a staggering $7.1 billion every single year.
So, what’s HR to do? Well – start by looking to the government guidelines. According to the Occupational Health and Safety Legislation, the onus is firmly on the employer to ensure a safe workplace – one which is free from drug abuse. As such, businesses could well be liable for any illegal acts committed by an employee when they’re within the workplace – holiday party or not.
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“Ensure you have a policy, it's no more than a page, prohibiting any use of illegal or recreational drug use, in, or out of the office,” added Cooper. “Introduce mandatory drug testing as an option, it sets the tone and should be used to ensure employees know that it isn't an idle threat. Then you can get back to worrying about those ‘under the mistletoe’ adventures...”