A comprehensive policy is needed to help firms deal with employee addiction, according to Sina Bugeja, chief executive of the Foundation for Social Welfare Services.

Addressing a seminar on employee addiction, organised by the General Workers’ Union yesterday, Ms Bugeja said the foundation was working on a draft policy. She said she had been meeting with different unions and employers’ associations to identify what was required to combat employee addiction.

“We hope to be holding a final public consultation once we have met with enough people on the matter and then we want to see this policy brought into force,” she said, adding that the foundation already offered training schemes for management and employers.

Support agency Sedqa offers what is known as the Safe Programme, which provides broad training to help employers identify and support workers struggling with addiction. Sedqa prevention executive Josianne Azzopardi said the programme had reached about 12,000 employees.

In the past six years, Sedqa staff have mounted almost 300 workplace exhibitions and held some 200 managerial training courses.

In fact, the programme was last year hailed by the European Working Conditions Observatory as a case study to be emulated.

GWU secretary Tony Zarb said the number of employers who supported employees with addiction had grown steadily over the years.

“We still have employers who will kick out someone struggling with an addiction. Luckily, this number is decreasing,” he said, adding that smoothing the transition between school and workplace would help in reducing the number of addicts.