DRUG-USE AWARNESS INCREASES PROFITABILITY IN SMALL FIRMS
WORKING PARTNERS
The Profit in Reassembling Human Assets
- Small businesses account for close to 50 percent of private-sector output in the United States and an estimated 39 percent of the Gross National Product (SBA Report to President, 1992).
- The manufacturing segment's industrious work force, although frequently small in size, represents its most valuable and underdeveloped asset. The manufacturing industry draws its work force from one of the fastest-growing sectors of the population, the pool of 18-to 30-year-olds with a high school education. This group also exhibits the heaviest use of alcohol, cocaine, marijuana, and heroin (NIDA, 1991). By joining or investing in support programs that help their workers prevent or overcome substance abuse problems, large and small manufacturers help themselves maintain a competitive edge in the dynamic world market.
- Award-winning manufacturers recognized by INC. magazine as star performers are also leading the way in giving special attention to employees through worker support programs. This attention pays off by improving worker morale, and retaining the profit otherwise lost in nearly 1 million drug-related industrial accidents (Karol, 1991).
- This finding supports the conclusions of a recent survey showing impact on job performance as the primary motivation for having a substance abuse policy. The Small Business Administration estimates that every dollar invested in an employee assistance program saves $16 in productivity by reducing health care costs (Moore, 1992).
- A study by the Project for Substance Abuse Assistance - a coalition of Printing Industries of America, Graphic Arts Employers of America, the American Newspaper Publishers Association and the Graphic Communications International Union - found that more than one-half of respondents said that it was possible to buy alcohol, marijuana, or cocaine in the workplace. Ninety percent said that co-workers with substance abuse problems should be helped and given the time to recover. Overwhelmingly, respondents said that 'more information on alcohol and drug problems' would be the most helpful way to assist co-workers (PIA, 1990).
What Working Partners Can Do For You
The U.S. Department of Labor's Working Partners Initiative has been developed specifically to help manufacturing industry supporters deliver helpful information to the small businesses that depend on their support. This package contains the benefits of research on the manufacturing industry to discover the hidden assets, the problems, and the solutions that successful entrepreneurs in your industry have developed to protect and promote their businesses.
Reference List
U.S. Small Business Administration, The State of Small Business: A Report to the President, Washington DC,: U.S. GPO, 1992.
National Institute on Drug Abuse. National Household Survey on Drug Abuse: Main Findings, 1990, DHHS: 1991.
Karol, Michael, ed. 'The Lows of Being High,' Graphics Arts Monthly (September, 1990):101.
Moore, Wendell R., The U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Small Business Administration & the Office of National Drug Control Policy, Working Partners National Conference Proceedings Report. Washington DC: U.S. GPO, July 13-14, 1992, 65-66.
Printing Industries of America, Inc. 'Industry Substance Abuse Concerns Highlighted,' Human Resources (March 1990).