The Effects of Workplace Substance Use Programs, Policies, and Practices on Current Substance Use Among A National Sample of Low-Income Workers: Differences by Race/Ethnicity and Education Level

Poverty and substance use are inextricably and bidirectionally related, but the workplace may represent an opportunity for substance use intervention among low-income workers. Although many employers have policies regarding substance use, they vary with respect to punitiveness and approach. Using cross-sectional data from the 2019 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (N = 7,953 low-income workers), we examined the separate associations between several organizational-level workplace factors and current substance use and whether these associations differed by race/ethnicity and education level. We also examined the simultaneous effects of multiple workplace programs, policies, and practices on current substance use. Having any written policy on employee substance use was associated with lower odds of cannabis use, illicit substance use, and misuse of prescription drugs. Having a policy to terminate employees who test positive for illicit substances was not associated with any substance use outcome and pre-employment substance screening was only associated with lower odds of cannabis use. Workers who received education on substance use at their workplace and workers with an employee assistance program were both less likely to report current use of cannabis and illicit substances. However, these effects were not universal across all racial/ethnic groups or levels of educational attainment and were no longer significant when examining their simultaneous effects.