How Addiction Affects Your Job

If you don’t take action now, continued misuse of drugs and alcohol will lead to a downward path in your career. The negative behaviors that characterize addiction can destroy the livelihood of an individual and may cause you to loose your job.

Drugs and alcohol change you. The chemical changes you experience both mentally and physically eventually start to show themselves in your job performance. They frequently effect the way you make decisions, and make you more likely to make poor decisions leading to mistakes, accidents, and in extreme situations, workplace deaths.

Photo credit: Why Are Drugs So Hard to Quit? video

How can you tell if your drinking or drug use is starting to creep into your productivity? Here’s a quick list of some of the ways you can tell if your drinking might be affecting your career:

• Being late in the morning or being tired at work
• Feeling hung-over or having withdrawal at work
• Poor decision making
• Loss of efficiency
• Stealing
• Your coworkers or superiors aren’t excited to work with you
• Increased disagreements between you and your coworkers/superiors
• Increased difficulty completing your tasks
• Thinking about doing or obtaining drugs or alcohol while you are at work
• Illegal activities at work, such as selling narcotics to other employees
• High turnover of those who work under you
• Increased disciplinary measures against you
• Increased DUIs and other legal action
• Having to make public apologies for yourself and your actions

If these actions continue, it is likely that you will be forced to resign from your position.

Many professionals are unwilling to enter an addiction treatment facility because they don’t want to take the time away from the office and because they do not want the stigma attached with addiction. However, having to issue a public apology or getting fired from your position (or forced to resign) because of substance use issues can be far worse. Take control of the situation, while you still can.