What Exactly Are Drug Tests and Why Are They Used?

Drug testing is not a new practice. It’s a simple way for employers to see if their employees are healthy and making professional choices on and off the job. Tests like these have been around for years, and companies have used them for all sorts of reasons. Usually, there’s two main types of drug tests on the job: Pre-employment drug tests, and random drug tests.

Drug Testing for Pre-Employment

These days, it’s hard for employers to effectively and easily screen a whole mass of candidates. We don’t have to pretend the hiring job is easy, especially for entry level and service positions. These jobs, which make up the backbone of many industries, often see hundreds of people applying for one opening. So how does a recruiter or a hiring employee screen applicants quickly and narrow down their One method is through a pre-employment drug test. If you administer this to applicants, you can easily see who lives a life clean from drugs, and who is a potential user or addict. If a candidate can’t be expected to refrain from drug use off the job, why would you even expect them to try on the job? This is a fantastic measure to easily make that massive list of applicants smaller, and to ensure you’re only getting clean employees. If you’re interested, you can purchase a 10 panel drug test from Health Street

Random Drug Testing 

On the job, there are a number of advantages to randomly testing employee’s urine for drugs without their knowledge of when. First and foremost, many people will get clean for a little while, or even figure out how to fake their pre-employment drug test just to get a job! If you want to verify that a pre-employment test actually worked, this is the way to go. If you’re a business with high standards and a drug free policy, it’s valuable to make sure employees maintain a sober lifestyle on and off the job, during their entire employment. 

Putting safety first

Many municipalities have laws to make sure that certain work environments are drug free. After all, you wouldn’t want your surgeon to be an addict, or going through withdrawal on the operating table, would you? If a company finds that their employees have problems on the job due to substance abuse, they could receive some serious penalties from the government, especially if they don’t have a sound drug testing plan in place. Moreover, how would a high employee potentially harm other employees? Will they stop being productive? Will they lower company morale by always being under the influence? An employee that abuses illegal drugs has a much higher chance of putting people’s safety at risk, and even damaging the company in the process. 

Why more and more companies are administering drug tests

As drug use skyrockets in some communities and demographics, it’s not worth it to put everything on the line just because of a wreckless employee. When it comes to drug testing, the safe, legal method will always be superior, especially as it improves overall productivity and happiness.