TMI

I think everyone in the world probably knows what TMI is, but for those not fluent in the short message acronyms, TMI is "Too Much Information." Essentially, it is about certain individuals' propensity to share too much information about themselves or any topic under the sun. Typically, when one hears too much information the reaction is to cringe and/or experience general malaise at why so much was shared. TMI happens too much.

Why is this on my brain today? Well, often and particularly now that the summer working season is about to begin, the number of times that members of our social network bring up drug testing and smoking weed increases. For the record, I'm no fool, I know that lots of people in the seasonal world imbibe, BUT, my work experience is in HR and safety management and I've got a low level, if not zero level, of tolerance for idiots those who violate health, safety and DOT policies. I've administered drug and alcohol testing programs for the DOT (bus drivers) and I've heard every excuse in the book for why someone failed a drug test. "I swear, I wasn't smoking. I was at a party and everyone else was smoking. Not me." "Dude, I use hemp oil in my cooking." Well, I have not heard all of them, but enough to know that generally people will lie about their use because they just are mad that they got caught. I've also been involved in performance / discipline events with employees who simply made bad choices. There are good reasons the rules exist and certainly if I am in a role to enforce them, then that's what I do.

The social network is a whole other ball of wax. I'm not their employer. I'm not their manager. I can't discipline them or nor do I care to. I'm just a simple network administrator who tries to keep relative peace when things get heated. I am frankly amazed at how much people will share and how they are so cavalier and public about something that not only violates most employers' policies, but is against the law. But whatever. It just means more jobs for me in the future, right?

Now as HR professionals, we know that unless something affects one's performance on the job, it should not matter or be considered when weighing someone's potential employment or continued employment. The fact that individuals post this stuff on the Internet really has nothing to do with how they will do their jobs. Nothing.

So what can you do about it?

• Have strongly worded policies about drug and alcohol use on the job.
• Enforce those policies.
• Do not take hearsay into consideration, but do your own investigation to get to the truth of the matter.
• You can Google your employees. In fact, a lawyer told me it was perfectly fine to do so at a SHRA conference, BUT, if you do that for ONE person, be prepared to do so for ALL of your employees and prospective employees, AND, don't take things into consideration that may violate the EEO. Read more about what the lawyer said here.
• Lastly, know that they're headed your way and be prepared to handle the inevitable policy violations.

Hopefully, this post did not make you cringe, but this is what I am seeing right now on our social network. Mind you, the offenders are few and far between, but they are out there, and they are headed to a summer job near you.

Tips, Resources for Dealing with Addiction in Workplace

About a week ago Bill posted an article stating that food service workers were a part of the group that had the highest rate of drug abuse across industries. We know that many of the employers who advertise job opportunities on CoolWorks.com have many food service positions and we hope that this is not a large problem for you. However, if you have experienced addiction within your workforce, please check out this article from SHRM by Kathy Gurchiek about The Hazelton Foundation tips on dealing with addiction in the workplace. http://www.shrm.org/hrnews_published/articles/CMS_022376.asp#P-8_0