Hiring substance abusers: Attitudes of managers and organizational needs.

A survey was conducted with 70 managers responsible for hiring in large-, medium- and small-sized companies in the Montreal and Quebec City areas. A content analysis of the semi-structured interviews allowed us to examine the social representations underlying the managers' attitudes towards the issue of substance misusing in the company or the hiring process. This examination in turn allowed us to develop a typology of the managers' needs regarding the integration of this category of people into employment. Our results show how the representations of the determinants of drug addiction and of the role of the workplace generate attitudes that are closed-minded, ambivalent, tolerant or supportive, and that underlie the managers' requirements for information on drug addiction, for internal rehabilitation services or external services supporting the reintegration of drug abusers into employment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]