Addiction is a destructive, obsessive disorder. It does not just refer to drugs or alcohol, but also to work, to spending, or even to checking social media. People are sometimes described as ‘functioning addicts’ which means they can go through the motions of a normal daily routine while constantly distracted by their specific obsession. This can also make it difficult to diagnose.
Managing employees with addiction issues is important for the good of your employer, your colleagues and the general mental wellbeing of everyone involved. If you are a team leader, manager or work in HR this is particularly important. So how do you go about identifying and managing addictive behaviour?
What is addiction?
Addiction is a chronic obsession to engage in certain behaviours. It has its basis in genetics and environment and can take many forms. Some people are addicted to drugs, alcohol, gambling, or even shopping.
Why is it important to address addiction issues in the workplace?
The disorder can cause people to neglect their responsibilities and even put their lives at risk. Addictive behaviour can impact work colleagues, standards of work and it can even result in them losing their jobs. At the very least this could mean a loss of skills and experience for the employer. It can also be a physical and mental health issue for the addict that can lead to heart disease, stroke, and even death.
Establish an addiction policy
Establishing an addiction policy will enable you to set out guidelines and procedures to ensure you build an environment to support staff and minimise the impact on business. It should also ensure you establish procedures that avoid enabling someone’s addiction. And it will allow you to help staff get the help that they need.
The foundations
You first need to establish an environment in which staff feel safe and comfortable talking about personal issues. This is also good practice for dealing with mental health issues, such as burnout, and should enable you to identify the addiction. If you have your suspicions you could start by making the employee aware of your concerns and asking a few tentative questions before moving on to more direct ones.
Once you’ve identified the addiction it is also important to make sure that the employee is aware that their behaviour is a problem. If someone is addicted to playing games via their phone, for instance, they may not consider this an issue. The employee should know that the addiction is affecting his or her job performance, and possibly their relationship with their colleagues. It may even be having a negative effect on their career prospects. The employee needs to recognise that it is better for them to seek help. It’s crucial that the employee recognises the behaviour as a problem or your efforts will be for nothing.
Support
If you need support for managing addiction there are a number of organisations available. The HSE in the UK provide information on drugs and alcohol addictions in the workplace. The Northern Ireland Safety Group also cover this topic. As does the CIPD.
In the US The Addiction Centre provides similar advice and resources.
If you or someone you know is suffering from addictive behaviour, including a drug or alcohol addiction, the Addiction Group offers some useful advice in the US. As do the NHS and Mind in the UK
Support for other forms of addiction may be harder to find, but Addiction provides a helpline, information and support for all kinds of addictions for people in the UK and around the world.
And finally…
Employees with addiction issues are a huge challenge for employers. Creating a set of guidelines from the start that all staff are aware of will enable the employee to seek help. The plan should cover the different kinds of addiction and should include training for staff to better recognise and understand the issues. By training staff you will raise awareness so that those suffering from addictive behaviour, which may be having a detrimental effect on all aspects of their life, can come forward.