Concept and Brief Description
The article I read was about a legal concern that is relatively new and becoming more and more prevalent. It involves the issues of drug use and abuse in the workplace. It is a very touchy subject that needs to be handled delicately, often employers have tried to help their employees with problems and it has backfired by them getting sued. The article goes over ways to protect yourself if you find yourself in a situation like this but overall it says to consult a HRM or an attorney to help come up with a company policy regarding the handling of drugs in the workplace.
Emotional Hook
One of your best employee’s comes to you and tells you he/she has a problem with drugs. How would you handle the situation?
Key Points to Elicit in Discussion
Make sure that you do not try to play counselor if you find out that an employee has or potentially has a drug problem. This could put you in a bad situation and potential lawsuit if you handle it wrong.
The whole subject of drug abuse is very sticky and hard to approach. By even inquiring about a drug problem can get you in trouble for defamation and even worse if you talk to others about it to try and get information.
State laws are different on how you can conduct drug test and what you can and can’t do once you get the results.
Facilitative Questions
How would you approach an employee you suspect has a drug problem?
How can Human Resource Managers help in the situation of dugs in the workplace?
There are more and more cases of drug use in the workplace every year. What are contributing factors to this?
Article Details:
Title- Tread Carefully When Dealing With Troubled Employees
Abstract Author- Phillip M. Perry
Source- Health Facilities Management July 1995 Pg. 58-65 Vol. 8 No. 7
hi folks: i'd like to add some thinking to the above article. as the coiner of the term Facilitative Questions (i developed these, teach them, and have been writing about them for over 20 years), i'd like to add the real definition of the term, as it will bring yet another dimension to solving this sort of problem.
ReplyDeleteFacilitative Questions (as i've defined them in my books) are questions that actually work with brain function: they do NOT pull or push data, but they go into the unconscious, pull criteria that holds current behaviors in place, and teaches the person how to mitigate their choices. so these are actually 'change creation' vehicles, not standard questions.
using the first question posed above, a Facilitative Question would be:
How would you choose an approach to an employee, who may be using drugs, in a way that would support his/her ability to begin managing their problems?
you can see that the answer would, by the nature of the question, include the route forward. it would also cause a decision of how to act that the original question wouldn't address.
if anyone wants to learn about these questions, let me know. i'd be delighted to discuss.
sharon drew morgen, www.newsalesparadigm.com sdm@austin.rr.com