Two years sober and feeling confident after a struggle to overcome a lifelong addiction to alcohol and other drugs, I took a chance and shared my personal story with the head of human resources at Cable News Network (CNN) in Atlanta, where I was applying for a job as a journalist in the early 1990s.

Addiction is a cunning, baffling, powerful, and in my case, stealthily patient disease. I suffered a short but near fatal relapse and failed to show up for work one day. Four days later, I was still AWOL — never a good idea, especially when I was working for a company that depends on cranking out news 24-hours-a-day on the air. Of course, my supervisors were shocked. But they were also sympathetic to the chronic nature of my illness, in part because I had shared with them my story of addiction and recovery. I was given a leave of absence to get help. The HR department found me an appropriate treatment facility, and then helped me to tap my health insurance to cover much of my treatment. Finally, my job was waiting for me when I returned, and my work schedule was altered to take into account my aftercare needs. I’ve been clean and sober ever since.

A decade has passed since those events, but unfortunately stories like mine still cannot overcome the troubling disconnect between alcohol and other drug abuse in the workplace and what to do about it. A recent Hazelden Foundation survey of human resource professionals at 200 U.S. companies finds:

• 54 percent report a lack of experience or expertise in knowing how to identify addiction.
• 36 percent don’t know how to access treatment for employees in need.
• One in four believes it’s easier in the long run to terminate addicted employees, instead of helping them get treatment.
• And 25 percent think treatment is too expensive.

In other words, the dearth of accurate information about addiction, treatment, and recovery has become a formidable obstacle between employees and the assistance they need to make the workplace a safer, healthier place for everyone.

Ironically, the survey also reveals that HR professionals overwhelmingly value the impact of treatment for employees. Consider this:

• 89 percent believe addiction treatment works for employees.
• 80 percent would recommend treatment for an addicted executive or rank-and-file worker, rather than merely firing them.
• Almost 73 percent believe employees returned to work as productive members of the workforce after treatment.

In an effort to bridge this gap between the appreciation for treatment and the lack of knowing how and where to get such help, Hazelden recently launched its 2004 “Making Recovery America’s Business” campaign. This national effort focuses on engaging and teaching executives, HR professionals, managers, rank-and-file employees and union leaders how to recognize addiction, where to turn for help and other ways to support successful recovery in the workforce.

It starts with dialogue. Employees in any company know that workplace safety, product development, profit sharing, and productivity are all integral parts of a company’s successful strategies and goals, and yet drug and alcohol abuse can impact them all. All of us in the addiction treatment field must encourage employers to teach everyone in their company about addiction and how to get help — through company-wide forums and other events, employee newsletters, intranets, videos, handbooks and printed resource guides.

It helps to clearly inform employees how their company addresses addiction. While many company policies insist on zero-tolerance for drug abuse, Hazelden believes they should encourage early intervention and treatment, rather than solely relying on punishment or firing. Employers need to know that it often costs less to treat an employee with drug problems than it does to train someone new to do that same job.

As our field knows, too often company health plans limit treatment options for the patients and clients whom addiction professionals serve. Hazelden believes that employees in trouble need and deserve comprehensive coverage for an appropriate range of treatment options, from outpatient to long-term residential care. It’s unrealistic to send an employee to treatment if their insurance coverage won’t match their need.

These are just a few of the many steps that employers and employees can take to proactively address drug abuse from the assembly line to the board room. But as my story highlights, we also need real examples of “how it works.” Where and when appropriate, employees and employers need to stand up and speak out about the power of addiction, and the promise and possibility of recovery, from their own personal perspectives. And our field also needs to get involved. To shatter stigma and promote awareness, we need to move beyond just the business of addiction and its treatment. It’s time for addiction professionals to make recovery America’s business, too.

William Cope Moyers ( This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it ) is the Vice President of External Affairs for the MN-based Hazelden Foundation. To obtain a copy of "12 Steps Every Company Can Take to Deal With Addicted Employees," visit www.hazelden.org.

This article is published in Counselor,The Magazine for Addiction Professionals, June 2004, v.5, n.3, pp. 22-23.

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