Recovery Friendly Workplaces: A Call to Action

Session Description: Work-life balance, career growth and purpose, and health benefits. These are the traditional aspects workplaces promote to attract top candidates. The next workplace revolution, the adoption of recovery friendly workplace policies, has already begun to broaden the playing field on which employers compete to attract the best workers, and has the potential to reshape workplaces nationwide. Addiction is the only disease where you end up healthier and better when in recovery. America celebrates the more than 22 million people in recovery who are role models and sources of hope and tangible demonstrations that treatment works and recovery is possible from the chronic disease of addiction. In 2025, more than 30 million American adults with a substance use disorder (SUD) were employed and, of those, nearly 80 percent worked full-time. More and more employers are realizing the untapped potential and benefit of hiring people in recovery. The Trump Administration has prioritized the adoption of Recovery Friendly Workplace (RFW) policies in its National Drug Control Strategy, and is encouraging employers nationwide to join this call to action. In this session you will hear from the Office of National Drug Control Policy; the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration; the National Drug and Alcohol Screening Association; and Shaw Industries, a recovery-friendly workplace, on why and how to implement recovery friendly workplaces.