Disadvantages of Drug Testing

Many employers around the world today believe that drug testing is a big advantage. It gives them control over their employees’ lives and also helps them judge and evaluate their employees based on what they do in their social lives. This is also not very expensive and suits most company budgets. However, employees don’t seem to have a similar outlook and only see drug testing as an intrusion in their private life and find it as a big disadvantage. Most employees believe that the company has no right to judge them on what they do in their private life, as long as it doesn’t affect their work life.

The biggest and foremost problem that is related to drug testing at work places is the invasion of someone’s privacy. A number of courts in different states today have upheld the decision to make drug tests a mandate at workplaces, as employees pour in their dissatisfaction at this outright corporate control. This is because according to a number of different laws, the entire process of drug testing falls into a bracket of invasion of personal privacy. Although, companies feel that this is a way to judge their employees performance at work and also help them know their employees better, most of the time there is no connection. A number of people still do drugs only for recreational purposes and walk in sober to work, hence, their weekend drug trip has no real impact when they are actually working. Not just drug tests are seen as an invasion into one’s personal life, but also the method in which it takes place is extremely uncomfortable. This is because employees don’t even get to give their urine samples in privacy, but have to do it in front of other individuals.

These are not the only reasons that are seen as disadvantageous by employees but they also find the process humiliating and unhygienic. Not many individuals are comfortable with the idea of peeing in a cup or small bottle. In addition, this also can be unhygienic and can put an employee through some embarrassing moments if the contents are spilled. However, there is no other way in which a company can collect urine samples for drug testing.

Employers mostly see only the benefits of drug testing but don’t understand the psychological impact it can have on their employees. A number of times forcing employees to take drug tests can make them dislike their employers and they can then become less responsive and stubborn to their bosses. This can cause a lot of friction between the employer and the employee, thus creating an unhealthy work environment.

In a nutshell, employees hate being put through something they don’t choose to go through and see as an invasion into their private life. On the other hand, most companies choose to only see the benefits and usually ignore the disadvantages drug testing holds in building better relationships.