RICHMOND – A local company's new pilot program aimed at helping workers struggling with substance abuse is well underway, and has the potential to change how businesses around the country address the issue moving forward.
Belden Inc., a St. Louis-based cabling and wire business with extensive operations in Richmond, recently began offering local employees and prospective employees who fail drug tests the opportunity to enroll in a job-saving rehabilitation program administered by a pair of local not-for-profits.
While the Pathways to Employment initiative is still in its infancy, having been launched in February, company officials and local leaders have expressed optimism about its potential applications in the future, and the impact the program could have on the local workforce and beyond.
David Hooper, plant manager for Belden's facility on the northwest side of Richmond, said the company has been hard-pressed in its search for workers in recent years because of the growing number of people using opioids and other drugs and substance abuse issues.
Hooper noted the struggle to find qualified workers — ones who could simply pass drug screenings — was highlighted in early 2016, when the company began a hiring phase after receiving lines from another Belden facility in Kentucky that was shutting down.
"We needed to find 70 employees," he said. "But we couldn't find (that many). We couldn't get people — the high bar was they couldn't pass the drug test. ... That's when it really became evident to our senior leadership that there's a big problem out there."