Opioids and the Workplace: An Employer Toolkit for Supporting Prevention, Treatment, and Recovery

As part of the Kentucky Opioid Response Effort (KORE), the KHC has developed this toolkit to support employers in understanding and addressing opioid misuse, opioid use disorders, and pain management. The toolkit is divided into five sections including opioids and the workplace, data analytics, benefit design, workplace policies, and legal considerations. In each section, employers will find recommendations and tools to support their employees and their families in prevention, treatment, and recovery from opioid misuse and opioid use disorder (OUD) and the management of acute and chronic pain.

The recommendations presented here are not intended to be a one-size-fits-all approach, nor do they have to be implemented in their entirety, as capabilities for large-, medium-, and small-sized employers greatly vary. Due to these  variations, the recommendations should be adapted to each workplace in a way that best suits the organization. Although not all recommendations may be applicable to all employers, all employers can learn from and potentially adopt some of them. Employers should involve a variety of key workplace stakeholders with responsibility for implementing these recommendations: human resources professionals (including Labor Relations teams), benefit managers, counsel, C-Suite and union leaders, operations managers,  employees, and subject matter experts.

Review

this toolkit to learn about opioids, pain, and the workplace and best practices for data analytics, benefit design, and workplace policies.

Evaluate

how your workplace is currently addressing opioid misuse, opioid use disorder, and acute and chronic pain through benefit design and workplace policies and identify areas of improvement.

Collaborate

with your workplace and healthcare partners to implement changes and optimize your support of employees, their families, and community.