The Absenteeism, Injuries, Damage & Stealing Caused by Alcoholic, Addicted & Allergic Employees
Whilst politicians, the public and the media recognise substance addiction as Britain’s biggest social problem, few come into daily contact with the absenteeism and other upsets which drinkers, addicts and allergic employees cause for employers trying to run businesses.
Statistics of the last 60 years loudly proclaim that medico-psycho-pharm rehabilitation “treatments”, far from stemming the advance of addiction in our population, have contributed to its expansion, leading to the Government’s recent closing of the NHS National Treatment Agency & that agency’s earlier promoting of prescription methadone “treatment” for heroin addicts and disulfiram for alcoholics.
Furthermore, substance addiction is clearly no longer limited to smuggled street drugs and licensed booze. There are literally millions of school pupils, university students, executives, workers, housewives and elderly people on daily “medication” for a wide variety of “symptoms”, huge numbers of which are actually the visible signs of allergies to the vast range of chemicals we daily confront.
To help marketing, there are over 3,000 colour, flavour and texture enhancers, preservatives and other substances in the products we select from supermarket shelves, and some 700 more which have been or are currently added to drinking water, and whilst numerous members of our population are allergic to many of these substances, instead of carefully testing to discover which item(s) a sufferer should avoid, it has become quick, convenient and medically fashionable for doctors merely to prescribe some form of medication obtainable from the local dispensary “on the National Health”.
Allergic reactions include not just obvious symptoms such as sweating, vomiting, sneezing, diarrhoea, constipation, loss of balance, falling asleep, can’t get to sleep, itching, skin discolouration, lumpiness, spots, blemishes, asthma, bronchitis, hay-fever, loss of hair, loss of libido and other physical manifestations, but also what APPEAR TO BE (but are not) “mental” disorders, such as lack of concentration, inability to pay attention, hyper-activity, boredom, disinterest, sadness, crying, fear, shyness, apathy, anger and other inexplicable and / or inappropriate emotional states.
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BUT WHAT HAS THIS TO DO WITH EMPLOYERS & “BUSINESS AIDS ?
The work done over the last 30 years by researchers such as retired Manchester Superintendent of Police David Williams on “DRUGS IN THE WORKPLACE”, has contributed to the earlier detection and considerate handling of alcoholic and recreationally addicted workers, to the benefit of employers, workers and their colleagues.
But ignored and in no way properly recognised or handled are the increasing range of problems caused by the fact that many prescription drugs are adductive, some are hypnotic and nearly all have unwelcome side-effects.
In addition, budget pressures, understaffing and physicians’ increasing case loads are leading to hurried and superficial diagnosing by overworked and occasionally laid-back doctors concerning themselves with only the eradication of symptoms by “prescribing patient popping of a pill” instead of more long-windedly seeking “causes” by full and proper testing.
Testing for what ?
Mainly the side effects of current medications, plus the patients’ adverse reactions to the wide variety of substances we find in our normal living and working environment or take in with our food, drink, and even breathing and touching.
Because of the widespread shortage or omission of diagnostic testing, one of the most valuable contributions and employer can make to the welfare, comfort, reassurance and loyalty of his employees, is for the boss to arrange the time and funds for competent professional diagnostic testing of any employee who is having trouble.
By “trouble” is meant a situation of any sort which the individual sees as a personal problem. This can be something obvious diverting their attention from living, working and relaxing, etc. But more often it can be something you or I might never consider to be a problem, but which the individual considers to be something he or she MUST get handled.
Why should this be important ? Because it is increasingly recognised today that an individual turns to an addictive substance because they consider, are convinced or are advised that that substance will provide a “solution” to their “problem”.
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A solution which, they are led to believe, is more important than any addictive phenomena they have yet to experience or risk. In other words, THEIR PROBLEM is more real to them than any only “possible” aspect of the solution they are about to adopt.
And IF and WHEN that problem is an allergy to some part of our modern bio-chemical existence (which is regularly the case) no drug ever invented is going to eradicate that cause, because the symptom is not the right target. The right target – which produces the symptom – is the substance to which the individual is allergic, and which when found can then be deliberately avoided.
Alternatively there exists today tried and tested technology which can discover ”WHY” the individual IS allergic, and can remove that underlying most basic cause. But that is another subject and vital only in those circumstances where the allergic substance cannot be avoided even by a change of location and living environment.
A loyal employee is valued not only for that loyalty, but also for his or her skills – skills most often obtained from training plus experience.
Any diagnostic testing action an employer can take towards retaining that person’s loyalty AND his or her skills is usually far less expensive than recruiting, training and grooving-in a new employee.
It is also quicker and usually more rewarding for all concerned.
Try testing one or two, and find out for yourself.
By E. Kenneth Eckersley, FCMI, FIOD, HonMPHMA(Int), HSDC, MABFDFE (Stockholm & Brussels)
Contributor Profile
Sussex-based 86 year old Ken Eckersley is a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Management, a Fellow of the Institute of Directors, a former Magistrate and retired Justice of the Peace, a Member of the Advisory Board to the Foundation for a Drug-Free Europe founded in Stockholm and based in Brussels, and is the C.E.O. of Addiction Recovery Training Services (ARTS), a not-for-profit community support group founded in 1975, and is also the Honorary Secretary to the Board of Trustees of UK NARCONON®, the registered addiction recovery charity no: 267386 founded in 1974. He will be contributing a regular article on various aspects of addiction from a business, personal, family, technical, political, recovery and historical viewpoint.