Informational Webinar: Substance Use Recovery Friendly Workplaces Promote Safety, Improve Employee Retention

Substance use recovery friendly workplace employers are committed to creating environments where employees feel supported and empowered to seek help when needed. A recovery friendly workplace:

• Creates safer work environments
• Educates supervisors about possible employee impairment
• Helps keep staff current on trends with substance use in the workplace that can cause danger to the workforce
• Contributes to employee retention

To achieve these results, recovery friendly workplaces:

• Support employees in or seeking substance use recovery
• Provide education on substance use disorder
• Promote a culture of health, safety and inclusion.

Recovery friendly workplaces adopt policies and practices that:

• Support employees in or seeking recovery through fair employment opportunities and access to needed services
• Encourage help-seeking and ensure awareness of rights and available accommodations
• Promote education, prevention and workplace safety to reduce substance misuse
• Provide organization-wide training on addiction and recovery to reduce stigma and foster open dialogue

Recovery friendly workplace policies are beneficial to employers:

• Expand eligible labor force
• Improve worker well-being
• Reduce turnover
• Improve productivity
• Lower health care costs
• Promote a culture of understanding and support

Reasonable Suspicion Training Is First Step

Through a new collaboration with the Minnesota Department of Health, the Minnesota Safety Council offers reasonable suspicion training to employers at no cost. This is the first step in becoming a recovery friendly workplace.

Reasonable suspicion training is an essential step in fostering a recovery friendly environment. It gives supervisors the skills to recognize and respond to possible substance use with care, help protect employees’ health and maintain a safe workplace.