The Taboo Topic in Small Businesses: Addressing Drug Use in the Workplace

Thierry Grandières is the boss of two SMEs in the development of premises, a member of the CPME, the confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises. He shared his story with other business leaders. He realized he was not “not the only one “. Two other leaders shared their concerns with him. “Like whistleblowers”. Et « ce…

Thierry Grandières is the boss of two SMEs in the development of premises, a member of the CPME, the confederation of small and medium-sized enterprises. He shared his story with other business leaders. He realized he was not “not the only one “. Two other leaders shared their concerns with him. “Like whistleblowers”. Et “what was not a subject a few years ago has become one », translates Jean-Christophe Dupuy, the president of the CPME in Charente.

“We realized that this was a question for many of us”, confirms Thierry Grandières. He will host next Thursday, June 8 (1), an evening dedicated to “ drug use in the workplace ». » “Because we realized that all the activities were concerned, that, for two years perhaps, the subject came up more easily in conversations” supports Aline Duverger, the general secretary of the CPME. Maybe tongues are loosening. Above all, business leaders have realized that not all of them are “wired to talk about it with people prone to addiction. In the buildingasks Aline Duverger, how can we make an employee listen to reason when he has to drive machinery?

It’s a little taboo, but the question is how to help employees, or even certain leaders.

They had often experienced the problem with alcohol in the company. Jean-Christophe Dupuy, former bailiff and president of the CPME even remembers having intervened in companies, to officially note that employees had taken up their position in the morning while they were still under the influence of alcohol. “They had to work on machine tools. It created a danger. The site manager had carried out a check. The usher that I was did the second. We were on a positive path. We needed awareness.”. More “I worked on construction sites for twenty-five years. Alcohol was not a subject. it existed. Point “.

narcotics by stimulating

Today, business leaders had to add a line to their rules of procedure. This is the sine qua non condition for a company official, bound to secrecy, to be able to carry out checks, blood alcohol levels or narcotics. And the second part has grown. “We notice behaviors that change, shortcomings in the job. If it affects the finish, that’s one thing, but if it endangers the employee, his entourage, the customers, that’s another problem. worries Thierry Grandières. The idea is to seek “prevention rather than cure”.

It is appropriate: “It’s a little taboo, but the question is how to help employees, or even certain leaders. Business is bad, there is competition. I take narcotics while stimulating. » The difficulty that business leaders have identified is also “how to help, accompany intimate requests that are within the framework of work”. Because the work is necessarily impacted. “I remember one employee who had 12 bottles of beer in his affected vehicle. It was dangerous for everyone. His colleagues worried. We have discussed “. The employee ended up leaving the company.

The fear is that the pattern will repeat itself and be amplified with narcotics. With a major pitfall. “I am not a policeman. I am an entrepreneur”. And in companies, the subject remains ” very sensitive “. “We seek to understand, detect, prevent”, explains Thierry Grandières. It is essential to understand what triggered the phenomenon, to find solutions. “Understanding addictology, what it implies in the company, what we must do, how we must intervene? The questions are many ». Et « without the two whistleblowers, we would have missed it”.

The organizers of Thursday’s meeting also rely heavily on the testimonies of their peers, collaborators, possibly, to identify the phenomenon more precisely. “We light a wick”.

(1) At 6.30 p.m., with the intervention of an addictologist, a bailiff, a lawyer, a gendarme. Open to everyone. Registration: [email protected]

Mathilde Charrue, occupational physician: “It’s more to help the employee than to get him fired”

IThere are no precise figures, only studies on the subject. It’s a reality “. Mathilde Charrue is an occupational physician in Angoulême, addictologist, devoted her thesis and four dissertations to the subject. She is now in demand “every two or three weeks” for work addiction problems. “These are above all alcohol problems, which are more easily identifiable by business leaders or colleagues”. She talks more and more about cannabis, cocaine, substitution treatments, sometimes diverted. “It’s part of our daily life.”
Business is in society. Therefore, the behaviors of the outside are also found there. In Charente, she often had to deal “to people who have had a difficult experience. We don’t want to add to it, but when there are no work-related difficulties, the person’s behavior will not change. We are trying to ensure that companies resume their role, that is to say that the framework of the company is the same for everyone. » That the slow mode of some does not weigh on the others. “We are also approached by employees, union representatives worried about their colleague”.
It would sometimes be difficult, faced with a “willingness to be silent which is not done wisely. “We are asked a little too late”, regrets Mathilde Charrue. It encourages business leaders to react, to engage in dialogue with the addicted employee, to encourage him to contact the occupational physician: ” I worry about you “. She takes the phenomenon very seriously.
“Cocaine, heroin have a big impact. We are talking about desocialization. At some point, the employee is no longer able to go to work in the morning. And this often affects people under 40, like cannabis, whose consumption is wider. And there is no trade that is spared, even if we mention the restaurant trades, bars, “because the context there is more favourable, the jobs difficult, or the medical professions because access to products is easier there, the workload is high”.
Support can be complicated. “Anyone who consumes always finds a reason to consume. His feelings are real. And it’s multifactorial, between the environment, the ease of consumption, genetics, possibly. »
The addicted employee “Was probably already in contact with the product before” and employers do not always know how to react, “Whereas telling an employee that things are not going well means considering the person”. So, Dr. Charrue trained managers on addictive issues. “The regulatory obligations for employers also mean that they will be more attentive to internal regulations. But, reassure the doctorwhen we are called upon, it is more to help the employee than to get him fired”.
However, the risk is very real of becoming incapacitated. “It’s more common with alcohol. It can go as far as dismissal “. But it is also possible to solve the problem of addiction to narcotics “by providing sufficient support to keep employees employed”.