If you have a workplace environment that you need to be drug free in order to make sure that everyone at the job is able to behave in a safe and responsible manner, there is a good chance that you are going to invest in drug testing for your employees. Drug testing will help keep your employees from using drugs if they want to continue to work for your company. Here are some tips for effective drug testing.

1. Drug Test as Part of the Hiring Requirements

The best thing that you can do is make sure, as much as possible, that you are hiring someone that does not use drugs in the first place. You should make drug testing a mandatory requirement before you hire someone. Although it does not allow you to ensure completely that a person does not use drugs, it does make it easier for you to at least see that the person that you are hiring is able to control his or her drug use enough to plan ahead while he or she is looking for a job. 

2. Consider Planned Drug Testing

The last thing that you want to do is cause people to switch from marijuana to a harder drug in order to get a high that will allow them to pass a drug test. Harder drugs often do not show up in traditional drug testing. If a person is at a party and wants to get high, he or she might take a harder drug because he or she does not know if he or she is going to be tested on the job in the next week. Marijuana can stay in the system for weeks, whereas other drugs get flushed quickly. If you have a planned drug test, your employee can plan ahead, rather than take a harder drug. It will show that your company is serious about testing for drugs but not unreasonably controlling about what employees do in their free time.

3. Consider Drug Testing Only With Probable Cause

Finally, consider making it your policy to only drug test if you suspect an employee of actively being on drugs while he or she is at work. Tell all of your employees ahead of time that they will be tested and that they will not get a second chance in exchange for not having random drug testing.

For more information, talk to a company like Pecos Drug Testing that specializes in drug testing.