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Each January, resolutions dominate the conversation: eat better, exercise more, manage stress. But what if the New Year’s resolution with the greatest potential impact isn’t personal at all, but organizational?
Across Oregon, employers are facing exceptional workforce challenges, including labor shortages, rising healthcare costs, burnout and safety concerns. Yet one of the most powerful tools for improving workplace health and productivity often goes unspoken: creating a recovery-friendly workplace.
That was the focus of a recent webinar in which I was among the presenters, examining the business case for employers to rethink how they respond to substance use disorder within their workforce. The reality is that substance use disorder doesn’t stop at the workplace door. What we do, or fail to do, at work matters.
Substance use disorders are far more common than many employers realize. According to the Oregon Health Authority, more than 700,000 Oregonians meet the criteria for a substance use disorder in a given year. Yet only a small fraction ever seek treatment. National and state data consistently show that only about one in 20 people — about 5 percent — with a diagnosable substance use disorder enters formal treatment.
Why so few?
Fear is the biggest barrier: Fear of being judged. Fear of losing a job. Fear that asking for help will permanently label them as unreliable or unsafe.
Those fears are often justified. Many workplaces still rely on punitive approaches — including discipline, termination or silence — rather than support and early intervention. The result is predictable: problems escalate, safety risks increase and employers lose experienced workers who might otherwise have recovered and thrived.
A recovery-friendly workplace is not about lowering standards or ignoring safety. It is about creating policies, practices and a culture that recognize recovery as a strength, not a liability.
At its core, a recovery-friendly workplace:
- Encourages employees to seek help early without fear of job loss
- Trains supervisors to recognize warning signs and respond appropriately
- Provides clear pathways to treatment and recovery support
- Protects dignity, confidentiality and fairness
- Treats substance use disorder as a health condition, not a moral failing
In Oregon, where overdose deaths have risen sharply in recent years and alcohol-related deaths remain among the highest in the nation, the workplace has become one of the most important and underutilized settings for prevention and recovery.
A workplace can be the setting where someone finally gets help, or the setting where warning signs go unaddressed until things become much worse.
The idea that supporting recovery is “risky” is one of the most persistent myths employers face. In reality, research shows the opposite.
Employees in healthy recovery often demonstrate higher levels of accountability, resilience and engagement. People in recovery know the virtues of structure, honesty and responsibility — qualities every employer values.
People in recovery tend to be deeply invested in living lives of character and dependability. They show up. They communicate. They take ownership. Those traits strengthen teams and strengthen workplace culture.
There is also a clear safety and cost argument. Untreated substance use is associated with higher rates of workplace injuries, absenteeism and health care use. Workers compensation data in Oregon consistently show that substance-related incidents increase claim severity and recovery time. Supporting early treatment reduces accidents, lowers turnover and helps retain skilled employees in an already tight labor market.
My perspective is shaped not only by my leadership at Serenity Lane, but by personal experience. Growing up in a family affected by substance use and later working in law enforcement, including as Eugene’s police chief, I witnessed firsthand how untreated addiction affects safety, families and careers.
In policing, you see the downstream consequences: accidents, violence and lost jobs. But you also see how many of those situations could have been prevented if someone had gotten help earlier.
So this is my message to employers: Waiting until someone “hits bottom” is costly, dangerous and unnecessary.
As employers think about New Year’s resolutions, I encourage leaders to broaden the definition of workplace wellness. When we get this right, we don’t just improve productivity, we save careers, we strengthen families and, in some cases, we save lives.
In a state like Oregon, where substance use disorder touches nearly every community, the choice is clear. A recovery-friendly workplace isn’t just a compassionate decision. It’s a smart, evidence-based investment in the health, safety and future of Oregon’s workforce. And it may be the most meaningful resolution an employer can make in 2026.