A career at Grocery Stores can be great! But it is pretty erratic rather weird to think that grocery stores also ask you to do drug tests, especially if you’re looking out for your first job or starting.
Here’s what you need to know:
Some stores perform Drug Test, mainly if they are the Big and famous stores across states and countries. However, small stores and chains might not be that particular about it. It may come as a surprise to you that Whole Foods do not usually do drug tests! Being such a big name, it is setting the foundations right in stone.
This article will discuss this same concept about Safeway doing drug tests or how to pass a grocery store drug test! Surely, this is an uncommon topic, but having solid clarity can help you move aces for your career. So without further ado, let us get started!
But there are many things to know about such Stores, Drug Stores, and its do it. Keep reading to find out more!
In this article, we’ll resolve your queries regarding Grocery Stores and Drug Tests such as:
- Grocery stores do drug Tests.
- Parameters that employee used to gauge the drug test
- Will you ever know if you cleared the test or not?
- If you fail a test, can you retake it?
You might not know or have an idea about the different job profiles in a Grocery Store if it’s going to be your first job.
Grocery Stores Doing Drug Tests For Screening Potential Employees
The Store is likely to be a chain if you’re applying at a grocery store. Although there are multiple stores worldwide that aren’t linked to large corporations, you’re probably applying for one of the biggest grocery chains.
Some of the most prominent chains and their test requirements are as follows:
- Does Safeway drug test?
Safeway grocery stores do drug testing before hire. In the first step, potential employees do Oral Drug Tests during interviews with the District Recruiter. All positions conduct a drug test before hire, except for Courtesy Clerks.
If your question has been that if Safeway does drug tests, then the answer is BIG FAT YES! Grocery chain Safeway drug tests all of its employees. You can expect to be tested before being hired if you’re willing to apply for a job at Safeway.
The tests are done at a local clinic or can be either saliva or a urine sample test. The clinic sends the samples for further predictions, and the lab further forwards the results to Safeway management.
The next way by which Safeway does drug tests is by conducting a compulsory drug test for the employees, especially in cases of hurt or damage. Usually, it could be possible that the employee hurt himself because of his recklessness because he was on drugs! To abhor such practices, Safeway also performs a compulsory drug test in another situation where an employee gets injured at the workplace. This is done to check whether the employee was under the effect of drugs when they were wounded. The employer is often not responsible for the issue if that’s the case.
- Does Kroger drug test?
Kroger seldom does drug testing, except when an employee is involved in a suspicious accident within the facility. Kroger stores no longer do employment drug tests as of Sep 21, 2020. Drug testing is not a regular part of the interview process.
It is also one of the brands that perform drug testing for their employees.
The test is usually a Saliva swab, but can also be a urine sample testing depending on the store to store. The test is done to check for something more than just marijuana, which is the most casual drug, for which the grocery stores test their employees. This means that grocery stores usually conduct some basic drug tests, where only traces of marijuana could be detected. Still, the drug tests done by Kroger are pretty sophisticated and can figure out some other elements as well, giving a much more clear picture!
Once the Clinic gets the test results, they send them to Kroger, who then makes a hiring decision based on the test results.
- Does Whole Foods drug test?
Whole foods usually don’t require a drug test before hiring their employees. However, the organization requires a mandatory drug test if the employee gets hurt at the workplace. Whole Foods is one of the big names that do not conduct drug tests in usual cases.
Although the reason to conduct the same during an employee’s injury is that if an employee got injured while at work and under the influence of drugs, the organization will not take responsibility or pay for any allegations or damages. Smart move, Whole Foods!
Some stores at certain locations would, however, drug test their employees who would be working around complex and tough machinery, and the warehouse would test the drivers. This ensures that the employees are sober while operating on or with some uneasy and typically dangerous equipment.
- Does Trader Joe’s drug test?
Trader Joe’s tries to avoid drug tests as much as possible as they believe in building an employer-employee bond in the work areas. Another prime reason for such avoidance is that somewhere they think that by imposing such harsh rules, it becomes quite tough for the management to find really nice and dedicated employees, in short, reliable employees.
There are certain locations where Trader Joe’s tends to have a drug test done for their employees, but the frequency is nowhere close to other prominent store locations.
- Does Aldi drug test?
Aldi does an initial drug test before officially hiring. As Aldi deals with heavy packages and machinery, they need to make it a point to perform shows for all the potential employees as they would be working around potential blunders and issues at almost all times. They usually perform a Saliva Test, but a urine test is also possible depending upon the situation. These tests save the company if an employee fails a drug test after an accident.
What does an employer drug test is done for?
One should know which substances the companies test for if they are considering working at a grocery store. Most employers look for Marijuana, Cocaine, Methamphetamines, and even alcohol through a Saliva Test. However, they are not as right as urine tests as it shows the substances which are intaken over a longer period of time.
Here are some of the drugs which companies look for during drug tests:
- Amphetamines
- Opiates
- Nicotine (not likely to be an issue)
- Marijuana
- Cocaine
- Alcohol (Although not considered a drug and also won’t cause any problems)
- Methamphetamines
Some companies don’t like finding alcohol in their tests, but it varies from company to company.
If you’re concerned about the alcohol testing in your drug tests, you should contact the company you’re planning to work for, as alcohol is generally not an issue if the employee consumes alcohol before or after work. Alcohol can turn out to be a major problem if you are applying for a driving position.
Do employers tell you if you passed a drug test?
Your future employer is most likely to inform you whether you passed the drug test or did not!
They would go ahead with the hiring process if you passed. Employers usually don’t go ahead with the applicants who failed the drug test. Don’t worry if you’ve not received a call within a few days of submitting urine or a saliva sample, as it doesn’t mean that you’ve failed!
There are many things an employer has to consider a lot of things before completing the hiring process. Also, they don’t receive the results right away. Another reason can be that some testing labs don’t send the test results on weekends.
So, if you’ve given your test on Thursday, don’t panic as the company would not receive the test results before Monday or Tuesday. They would contact you as soon as possible in most cases. However, if you still didn’t receive a call in a couple of weeks, you don’t need to panic.
Also, keep an eye on your inbox and mailbox as most of the companies either notify you through an email or, in some cases, through a phone call. Companies usually don’t leave you in the dark as they also understand that you’re waiting for the results.
Can you take a Drug Test if you fail?
As much as one would like to have this option, sadly, you cannot retake a drug test for a job!
Companies don’t allow a retest because these tests are extremely accurate, which reduces the chances of an error to almost zero. Not allowing a retest is because it gives a candidate time to flush out the drugs from their systems, producing false results.
You can still dispute the results for them being false if you apply for an important position or a job with minimal applicants. Although you won’t be able to re-attempt the test, there can be that lighting hopes it was actually an error.
Once the company has requested urine and a swab of a saliva sample, it can also mean that it’s good news.
Normally your first and foremost sample is reanalyzed as a unique sample when you dispute a drug test. Substances cannot enter or leave the container as they are stored very carefully. You will receive a clear statement with the new results through phone or email as soon as they’re reanalyzed.
Did I cover all that you were curious to know about whether grocery stores do drug testing on the hired employees?
In this article, we answered a question that many employees tend to think of when applying for their first jobs: whether grocery stores do drug tests?
We reviewed certain things such as:
- “Which grocery store chains drug test?”
Mostly all of them. Many of them do it as a part of their hiring process, and the ones that don’t do it initially do it after incidents that result in injuries.
- “What does an employer drug test look for?”
These Drug tests look for all kinds of drugs, including legal drugs such as alcohol and nicotine.
- “Do employers inform you if you passed a drug test?”
A lot of employers won’t inform you if you passed a drug test. You’ll get to know if one moves on to the next level of the hiring steps.
- “Can you take a retest if you don’t pass?”
Most employers won’t allow a retest, but you can still ask them to reconsider your sample or check your second sample. Long story short, some stores won’t care much if one occasionally consumes weed, but we still recommend you not doing it while job searching as you’ll be much content with a good job and a regular income.