William Moyers knows that addiction is a disease that doesn’t pass you over just because you’re an accomplished professional. Seventeen years sober, he’s a recovering addict who hit bottom while at the top of his profession, working as a journalist for CNN.
Moyers, the vice president of public affairs and community relations for Hazelden, will speak at the Voices for Recovery Luncheon on Sept. 19 at the Edgewater Hotel in Madison. The luncheon is billed as a way to connect people who have been affected by addiction and who work in recovery and to show them how they can make a difference in the community. And Moyers is quick to point out that the business community is affected every bit as much by addiction as the community at large.
“I do think employers need to be aware of the fact that it isn’t just unemployed homeless people living under bridges that have this problem,” said Moyers, author of the New York Times best-selling memoir Broken: My Story of Addiction and Redemption. “This is not just a problem for homeless shelters, this is not just a problem for the criminal justice system, this is not just a problem for social services. The problem with addiction is one that’s as relevant to the workplace as it is to the home place, and that’s why my message to the business community in Madison is one of being part of the solution, because so many people who do develop a problem are actually working at the time they develop it.”
The statistics definitely bear that out. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, 79% of the country’s heavy alcohol users are employed, as are 75% of current illegal drug users. But if there remained any doubt, Moyers’ own story is proof positive that addiction is not just a problem that exists on the fringes of society.
Moyers first sought treatment at Hazelden in 1989 at the age of 30. He was addicted to crack cocaine and his life had become unmanageable. Unfortunately, he didn’t fully buy into the program and relapsed more than once.
“You have to be willing to take your insulin if you’re a diabetic, you have to have regular mammograms if you have a family history of breast cancer. Well, addiction is the same way. It requires cooperation on the part of the patient if you’re going to be successfully treated ….” |
“Addiction is a chronic, progressive, incurable illness – there is no cure for addiction, not yet, but there is a solution, and that solution requires the patient to be part of it,” said Moyers. “You have to be willing to take your insulin if you’re a diabetic, you have to have regular mammograms if you have a family history of breast cancer. Well, addiction is the same way. It requires cooperation on the part of the patient if you’re going to be successfully treated, and I was not willing to do everything I was told to do at Hazelden, and so between 1989 and 1994, I was in and out of treatment four times over that five years, and included in that period of time was three years of abstinence.”
Moyers said that in 1994 he hit rock bottom and ended up in a crack house in Atlanta while working as a journalist for CNN. But it was the last time he would allow his addiction to disrupt his life – thanks in no small part to the help and foresight of his employer.
“I got sober, and the reason I got sober was because I got another chance to go to treatment,” said Moyers, who is the son of journalist Bill Moyers. “The reason I got sober was because my employer, CNN, did not give up on me. They pretty much read me the riot act and said, ‘You know, William, if you’re going to continue to be employed by this organization, you’re going to need to take responsibility for your sobriety, your recovery.’ So my employer didn’t give up on me, my family did not give up on me, my community did not give up on me, even though I had given up on myself.”
Taking the initiative
While some businesses might be reluctant to do what it takes to see an employee through an addiction problem, Moyers says that CNN’s faith in him was rewarded, but he cautions that doing nothing about an employee’s substance abuse problem is not an option.
“I returned to work [at CNN] as a journalist, as a consistent employee, as a contributor to the organization’s bottom line, so my advice is the following: Addiction is not an excuse. It is an explanation as to why good employees do bad things, as to why productive employees become unproductive, as to why forklift operators and CEOs alike tend not to function.
“Addiction explains a lot, but it’s not an excuse. So just because somebody is addicted in the workplace doesn’t mean you should tolerate it. But oftentimes those employees who have addiction problems are pretty good employees when they’re sober. And my advice is that employers hold employees accountable by requiring that they seek counseling or treatment, that they facilitate their after-care programs when they come back into the workplace, and that they have significant dialogue within the company about what employees and supervisors can do when a fellow colleague develops a problem.”
Employers should also work to create an environment in which employees feel comfortable about discussing their addiction problems.
“HR needs to have plans and policies in place that encourage employees to come forward when they either have a problem or a fellow employee has a problem, and generally and fundamentally, the workplace policies need to avoid any appearance of being punitive,” said Moyers. “Now, that’s not to say that if you drive a forklift off a loading dock while drunk, you shouldn’t be disciplined – you should be. You need discipline in the workplace in the use of illegal or legal substances, but any discipline should also hold the employee accountable by requiring them to seek help.”
Still, every supervisor and every HR director is a human being first, not just a mouthpiece for a company policy manual. So how should employers relate on a human level to employees with substance abuse issues?
“I think a supervisor should approach an employee with dignity and respect and honesty, and say to the employee, ‘I’m concerned by your job performance in part because I think it might be related to the use of substances, and I would like to ask you right now, do you have a problem?’ By asking it that way instead of accusing somebody, by asking them to volunteer the information – it doesn’t always mean you’re going to get the honest or the right answer – but you open the door. Here’s why that’s important, because addicts and alcoholics in the workplace, just like anywhere else, suffer from shame and stigma, and the shame and stigma of the illness oftentimes compels the addicted person not to be truthful.
“Someone is diagnosed with cancer, they’re pretty open about it. Somebody who’s diagnosed with diabetes or heart disease, they’re usually pretty open about it. But when you’re diagnosed, when you’re struggling with a problem that is attributed to alcoholism, oftentimes you’re dishonest about it because of the shame. So I think it’s really important that supervisors understand that one of the dynamics of addiction is dishonesty or denial. … And so I think it’s really important that a workplace have a clear policy around the use of substances and that that policy is one that is not punitive as much as it is compelling.”
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