[speaker002:] what do you think about drug testing
[speaker001:] well unnecessary a necessary evil I guess
[speaker002:] yeah I think that it's appropriate in some job categories uh jobs that involve safety and you know that that performance of which really would have an effect on the the the lives and safety of other people you know health professionals and people who uh operate machinery and fly and or drive whatever I think that those are really important I'm not sure how I feel about about other jobs just uh for the purpose of determining whether or not an employee is drug free you know on on general principles
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] but I can really see the justification for the others
[speaker001:] yeah uh I guess I'm uh partly biased since we just recently our company's gone to the uh process of initiating drug testing on a random basis
[speaker002:] uh-huh for all job categories
[speaker001:] everybody uh in the corporation
[speaker002:] uh-huh so whether you're an executive behind a desk or you're operating a vehicle or whatever
[speaker001:] that's correct
[speaker002:] and and how do they how do they do that how often generally does random mean
[speaker001:] well it's uh other than they uh they insisted on the uh you know management and and supervision taking the uh being done within the first year which we've all been done you know uh seems to be
[speaker002:] so in the past month
[speaker001:] the past year
[speaker002:] oh since nineteen ninety one it started is that right
[speaker001:] uh right actually late in ninety it was
[speaker002:] uh-huh
[speaker001:] but you know they it's fairly infrequent it's just that it's there you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh when you say infrequent is it maybe once a quarter or
[speaker001:] oh Lord no I don't think uh first of all in my group hardly a fourth of them have been tested you know
[speaker002:] how large is that group
[speaker001:] uh it's about uh twenty people
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh so what do you see as the reasons that they chose to do that that the company chose to do that
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] was it insurance issue or
[speaker001:] that uh they want to you know social uh issues
[speaker002:] safety issue uh-huh so uh on a performance level there was actually a problem with abuse of substances and they wanted to make sure that they were reducing that or
[speaker001:] yeah I think that that was probably the prime motivation and insurance like you say to get uh
[speaker002:] uh-huh yeah what kind of a company is it
[speaker001:] Texas Instruments
[speaker002:] oh I guess I should have figured anybody I talk to in Texas is is probably from TI
[speaker001:] yeah
[speaker002:] interesting well they really I guess I shouldn't stray from the subject but they have some very interesting topics for for questions I often wonder who has created them
[speaker001:] yeah I guess there uh may have been just a committee throwing out suggestions
[speaker002:] was the response from the employees regarding drug testing favorable or
[speaker001:] it was uh it was received at our site here in Houston fairly easily however in Austin where they have a lot of engineers and uh I guess a younger set uh people they uh they were pretty uh a lot of people quit over it and uh quite a
[speaker002:] oh really
[speaker001:] quite a bit of furor yeah
[speaker002:] interesting quit on general principle
[speaker001:] I guess yeah there was some people that just actually quit because of the their uh objection to the policy being forced on them you know
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh is there some concern that the tests may not be completely accurate that you might be taking some prescription medication and and
[speaker001:] uh I don't know how much of that there is I don't think it's that big of an issue because they've hired a national company and it's you know handled
[speaker002:] be interpreted correctly
[speaker001:] third party and there's supposed to be a lot of safe guards and all that
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh do you know if anyone's been uh um disciplined or
[speaker001:] oh yes they've they've they've been people that have been uh the company has a you get a two step process the first time if you're caught you have to uh take a uh you know go into a program to even if you're not you know still have to go into a program even
[speaker002:] so even if it's you know one time
[speaker001:] yeah if you're if you're you're high you know if you fail the test whatever reason you have to go in into a program and uh course that can be very quickly taken care of if you're not a habitual user or whatever
[speaker002:] uh-huh uh-huh uh-huh
[speaker001:] then uh after that first time chance then the second time it's automatic termination so
[speaker002:] seems fair certainly if people are prepared for the fact that there's a chance they're going to be tested you think they'd be smart enough if they did have a problem to eliminate their use
[speaker001:] yeah well it's it's almost become a uh non topic anymore