Zippy's new drug policy identifies 'problem' workers
Thomas Kehoe and the rest of his Zippy's co-workers usually had a good idea who was abusing alcohol and drugs.
Photos by Bruce Asato • The Honolulu Advertiser
If the problem employees showed up at all, they tended to be late and everyone else had to pick up the slack. And Kehoe often found himself tiptoeing around their mood swings.
Zippy's workers, Cheryl Saad, left, Adelma Bhatti, in back, and Vilma Piso, far right, get ready to punch out at the end of a shift, while Aaron Gabales checks his schedule.
"With the ones who were using drugs, you always had to work twice as hard and you never knew if it was going to be a good day or a bad day for them," Kehoe said.
Now Kehoe, 20, is a swing shift manager at the McCully Zippy's on King Street where he and other workers and managers say morale and productivity have improved in the past 18 months since Zippy's instituted a new drug policy that calls for unannounced urine tests.
"Some of these people wouldn't even call in sick," said shift leader Edna Llamido, 46. "No show, no call."
With Hawai'i experiencing the tightest job market in the nation for the third month in a row, managers such as Kehoe know that Zippy's new drug policy cuts down even more on the number of applicants.
"Yeah, it's a lot harder," he said. "Even though we're sometimes short, it's worth it. You don't have nearly as many problems."
And those who do apply for jobs, Kehoe said, "are a much better bunch of people. They're very reliable and they're more punctual. They help out a lot more."
Zippy's officials declined to say how much the new program costs or whether they had calculated losses from substance abuse, such as absenteeism, employee theft and lost productivity.
"It was a big decision because it is costly," said May Goya, employee relations manager for Zippy's parent company, Waipi'o-based FCH Enterprises, Inc. "But our commitment to maintain a drug-free workplace and help employees overrode everything."
In January 2004, the company announced a new substance abuse policy that would affect its 2,400 employees at the 23 Zippy's restaurants, Napolean's Bakery plant, Catered Experience, Osaka Okazuya and the Food Solutions International plant in Waipi'o that produces food for Zippy's and outside accounts.
In a statement announcing the program at the time, FCH Enterprises said, "Employees who abuse alcohol and drugs present greater safety risks to themselves, other employees and the public. ... The cost to maintain the substance abuse policy is high, but FCH Enterprises, Inc. decided to take a stand and make a difference."
The company plans to administer urine tests to 10 percent of the company's employees each year, but works through a diagnostic laboratory "so we can't be accused of targeting people," Goya said. "They randomly select a site, randomly select a shift and randomly select the employees," which usually turns out to be 10 to 13 workers.
Positive tests are referred to a medical review officer and then another test is ordered for confirmation, Goya said.
Cheryl Saad, a front-counter worker at Zippy's in McCully, says she has lost friends and a close family member to drugs, particularly crystal meth. "I've seen it and it's very devastating," Saad said.
The program was easier to implement for Zippy's than restaurants with union workers. Unions have typically prevented companies from testing union members for drugs after they have been hired. Zippy's has tried to address in its program the concerns expressed by labor leaders.
"From the start, we've made it clear that we're not going to catch somebody and kick them out," Goya said. "They don't get fired. We get them an assessment of where they are with their drug usage and allow them to get treatment" through their health insurance.
Those with confirmed positive tests must submit to unannounced follow-up tests.
Company officials declined to say how many employees have tested positive so far. "It's not that many," spokeswoman Jeanine Mamiya-Kalahiki said.
Goya still remembers the reaction from one female Zippy's employee who tested positive.
"When I met with her, she was real relieved — that's how she put it," Goya said. "It had gotten to the point where her family was asking her to look at what she was doing and to stop doing it. When you're into drugs, you cannot see that. But when it came from the workplace, she couldn't deny that it was a problem any more. She's still working with us."
A male worker who recently tested positive had gone through recovery once before and suffered a relapse.
Shift manager Thomas Kehoe, with shift leader Edna Llamido, says morale and productivity have improved since drug testing began.
"To him, it was a real wake-up call," Goya said. "He said that he knew that if he didn't stop, he would get back into the addiction fast."
One girl just out of high school ended up quitting Zippy's after her positive test, Goya said.
Workers on the day and swing shifts at the McCully Zippy's — many of whom have been tested on the job — generally said they felt more comfortable coming to work since the new program went into effect.
Front counter worker Cheryl Saad was born and raised in Wai'anae, where she has lost friends and a close family member to drugs, particularly "ice," or crystal methamphetamine.
"I've seen it and it's very devastating," Saad said.
Saad, 28, now lives in Waikiki and recently owned a Greek gyro restaurant and a cleaning company where she sometimes discovered that employees had drug problems.
But now that Saad works at Zippy's, "it's nice knowing that you're in a controlled environment that's not nearly as hazardous," she said.
For store manager Nelson Miyasato, 41, Zippy's new policy comes during a critical time in Hawai'i's ice epidemic.
"You'd get a lot more applicants if you didn't have the policy," Miyasato said. "Short-term, you'd get the staffing you need. But long-term, they just won't last."
Reach Dan Nakaso at dnakaso@honoluluadvertiser.com or at 525-8085.
