Supply Chain

Drug Testing and the Unemployment Rate

June 22, 2012

I am blessed to spend a lot of my time with business leaders around the world.

Whether it is in an Executive MBA program, a corporate training session, or an interview for a new book, I have the distinct pleasure of learning from some very sharp people.

Over the years, despite The Great Recession, an ever-larger number of folks tell me that they face a tremendous challenge in hiring good employees.

The reasons are many, and vary widely across industries.

Yet, an underlying theme keeps coming back time and time again: the inability of many strong candidates to pass a drug test. Or, be willing to submit to one.

When we're talking over coffee in the office, this is rarely discussed.

However, it is often a regular topic of conversation off-site, when the beer or wine starts to flow.

It seems the desire on the part of employers to be sure their current and prospective employees aren't using narcotics is becoming a bigger barrier to hiring new workers.

Am I wrong here? What do you think?

About the Author

Andrew R. Thomas Blog | Associate Professor of Marketing and International Business

Andrew R. Thomas, Ph.D., is associate professor of marketing and international business at the University of Akron; and, a member of the core faculty at the International School of Management in Paris, France.

He is a bestselling business author/editor, whose 23 books include, most recently, American Shale Energy and the Global Economy: Business and Geopolitical Implications of the Fracking Revolution, The Customer Trap: How to Avoid the Biggest Mistake in Business, Global Supply Chain Security, The Final Journey of the Saturn V, and Soft Landing: Airline Industry Strategy, Service and Safety.

His book The Distribution Trap was awarded the Berry-American Marketing Association Prize for the Best Marketing Book of 2010. Another work, Direct Marketing in Action, was a finalist for the same award in 2008.

Andrew is founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Transportation Security and a regularly featured analyst for media outlets around the world.

He has traveled to and conducted business in 120 countries on all seven continents.