“We just want to get the testing done so we can put people to work,” a frustrated HR manager recently told me. “How long does your lab take?”
That’s really what it’s about, isn’t it? When a critical process is the bottleneck, it’s aggravating. Particularly when a business has high turnover, or a rush of seasonal hiring, getting folks onboard quickly is crucial.
Can you really speed up drug testing?
The short answer is yes. But it helps to understand the process a bit. Or I should say, “processES.” There are several.
Traditionally, a candidate is offered employment pending favorable results from a drug test. The candidate is dispatched to a drug testing center – sometimes far away – where she sits in a waiting room for an hour before being permitted to pee in a cup. The specimen goes to the lab where it normally spends a day or two in testing. Results then go to the MRO (Medical Review Officer) for final review. The MRO releases results to the drug test administrator who then delivers them to the employer. Total time: 24-72 or more hours.
That’s a lot of moving parts!
And any one of them can be a logjam.
Potential snags
What if the donor can’t get to the testing center for a few days? Or what if he decides he doesn’t want to take a drug test, and “forgets” to tell you? Twenty-four hours easily turns into a week or more and you’re wondering if you’re going to have to find another candidate. More time lost.
To eliminate the waiting game, some of our clients like on-site testing. Then they know it’s done. We either send our personnel, or train the employer to collect hair or oral fluid (which saves money AND time!). On-site testing is a real time saver when doing random tests or for hiring events.
Speaking of random tests, if they come to our clinic, there is never long wait. If your folks are on the clock, they don’t need to be wasting time in a waiting room full of sick people. All we do is test here. They’re in and out.
What if even 24 hours is too long? In some cases we can do rapid or instant tests, where 95% of the results are available the same day. We can do those in our clinic or on site.
What if the testing administrator is just too busy to deliver results to the employer quickly? It happens. Results pile up on the fax machine (yes, we use them in this biz), awaiting distribution to the appropriate client. Not so with InOut Labs. Yes we have a fax but our sophisticated software automatically delivers results to the employer the moment they are released by our MRO. Incidentally, our MRO is fast too (another potential bottleneck).
Can we make it faster for all companies? Probably not, but we have cut the time in half or better for many. If you’d like to find out more, we’re easy to find.
