Effects of Drug‐testing Programme on Employee Attitudes, Productivity and Attendance Behaviours

Presents a longitudinal field study which compares changes in perceptions of productivity and attendance behaviours for participants in a drug‐testing programme in a manufacturing firm in the mid‐western USA. Employee efficiency, productivity and absenteeism changes related to the implementation of the drug‐testing programme were measured by collecting and analysing actual organizational data. Data for each of the measures were collected for a 42‐month period, ranging from 18‐months prior to the implementation of the programme to 24‐months after the programme began. The attitudinal results provide, at best, circumspect support for the claims of drug‐testing proponents that the programme reduces drug abuse in the workplace and improves overall productivity. The performance results, however, document a positive and substantial impact of drug testing initiative on employee productivity and absenteeism rates.