Help me out - take a survey

I need to do a survey for my English class essay, so if you could please help me out and answer the following questions. All information will be anonymous .

The Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 requires any organization that receives a federal contract of at least $25,000 to certify that it will provide a drug-free workplace. Since 1988, drug testing in the workplace has become a means for federal agencies and contractors to certify that their workplaces are drug free. A number of state, municipal, and private-sector employers have followed suit, also implementing drug testing programs.

The main question is: Is drug testing in the workplace necessary? Would mandatory drug testing be in violation of your employee privacy? Please give me your feedback in the following survey...

Drug Testing Survey

Your age:Under 1819-2526-4041-6061 or older Are you currently employed?YesNoRetired How many times have you been employed?Never Employed12345 or more Were you ever required to submit regular drug tests at any of your jobs?YesNoN/A How many of your jobs required regular drug tests?None12345 or moreN/A Were you required to submit a drug test before you were hired at any of your jobs?YesNoN/A How many of your jobs required a drug test before you were hired?None12345 or moreN/A How many interviews required you to submit a drug test in which you weren't hired?None12345678910 or moreNever had a job interview Do you feel that all companies should require regular drug testing?YesNo Why? Any other comments?Comments?

My essay is due on Saturday, 4/18, so any information sent after 4/17 will be useless to me. Please try to answer this survey before then.



Also, I'm also suppose to interview someone. If anyone has any experiences with drug testing or feel really strongly about it one way or another, please send me a PM and I'll set up an interview.

again!

Do answers from swiss companies count too? I would take the survey if you tell me it's ok with your essay.

swiss_tiger wrote:

Do answers from swiss companies count too? I would take the survey if you tell me it's ok with your essay.

Sure! The more answers I get, the better.

Even though it talks about a US law, I'm going to be incorporating a Canadian article in my essay.

Any information I receive now will be useless to me. I want to once again thank everyone that participated.

The one major question that I am going to use in my paper is...

Should companies require regular drug testing?

No - 86%
Yes - 14%

86% said no? Either a lot of people who took your survey are drug addicts or else that is somewhat surprising to me.

I don't think they should though and I'm not a drug addict.

catbox_9 wrote:

86% said no? Either a lot of people who took your survey are drug addicts or else that is somewhat surprising to me.

I don't think they should though and I'm not a drug addict.

Most of the reasons I got were the invasion of privacy. That and the if there's no suspicion, then there should be no reason to test.

That being said, I can counter and say, "if you have nothing to hide, then why hide it?" A lot of what they test is illegal, so it's not the company's policy but the government's policy. If a policeman pulls you over and arrests you for possession of illegal drugs, how is it any different if the company finds an employee with possession of drugs? Would you want to work with someone who's a drug addict?

bobrob2004 wrote:

Would you want to work with someone who's a drug addict?

The reason I was against drug testing went like this....

If a guy uses cocaine constantly but shows up to work on time and doesn't act like a drug addict (unlikely, but possible) I'd much rather work with him than a guy who is a total drunk and shows up to work drunk all the time. Of course the drunk would probably be fired. What if instead of being a drunk the guy was a chain smoker and we worked somewhere where you could smoke while working? I'd rather have the coke addict.

catbox_9 wrote:

bobrob2004 wrote:

Would you want to work with someone who's a drug addict?

The reason I was against drug testing went like this....

If a guy uses cocaine constantly but shows up to work on time and doesn't act like a drug addict (unlikely, but possible) I'd much rather work with him than a guy who is a total drunk and shows up to work drunk all the time. Of course the drunk would probably be fired. What if instead of being a drunk the guy was a chain smoker and we worked somewhere where you could smoke while working? I'd rather have the coke addict.

I'm giving away my position in my paper when I say this, but that's exactly what research shows - drug addicts don't show many signs of lowered performance in their work (if any at all), at least not as much as drunks. If their work performance isn't effected, then is there any reason to fire that person, even if they are high all the time?

And I'm glad you bought up alcohol abuse, because that's another point I want to make in my paper. When people are caught being drug addicts, they get fired. When people are alcohol abusers, the company will keep them on, and pay for their AA meetings. What's more cost-efficient? Pay for drug tests for employees who don't show any signs of lowered performance or pay an employee for AA meetings who shows all kinds of lowered performance?

Here's a direct quote that I'm going to use in my paper...

Quote :

...demonstrated that workplace drug testing reduces injuries and worker's compensation claims. Yet, findings concerning organizational performance indicators are based on numbers of cases too small to be statistically meaningful. While they are informative and provide basis for speculation, they are not in any way definitive or conclusive, and should be regarded as hypotheses for future research.

Sure, make a claim and don't back it up with numbers... What is this, an MVP voting?

Can you fire a drug addict? I thought if they were seeking treatment they were covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Then again they usually aren't seeking treatment.

catbox_9 wrote:

Can you fire a drug addict? I thought if they were seeking treatment they were covered by the Americans With Disabilities Act.

Then again they usually aren't seeking treatment.

Yeah, I think you're right. I should probably get all the facts straight in the paper correct if I want to get a good grade. I have all the information, it's just reading it and organizing it that I have to do. And I have to go to tutoring pretty soon . Good thing it's only for 2 hours.

On the bright side you get paid to tutor. I don't get paid not to tutor

It'll be at least a few more weeks before I find out if I got that job or not. In the mean time food stamps for me (not really).