Your Boss Is More Likely to Be Stoned at Work Than You

A new poll suggests companies shouldn’t be too worried about their low-level employees coming into work stoned—it’s the bosses that plan to be baked on the clock.

At least that’s what’s indicated in a poll commissioned by the human resource company ADP and conducted by Ipsos just in time for legalization. The poll looked into whether there’s a disconnect between managers and employees in regards to weed. To get their data, Ipsos spoke with 1,000 working Canadians—half of which were managers—and, boy howdy, did they ever find a disconnect. In fact, the poll found that the number of bosses who say it’s likely they’ll smoke at work is almost double that of their employees.

ADP and Ipsos state that only six percent of Canadians believe that their work would be cool with them showing up to work stoned. This is a belief that changes dramatically when it comes to what sort of responsibilities the employees had—if they had managerial responsibilities they were 10 percent likely to say that as opposed to two percent of employees who don't.

Where it gets really interesting though is when the survey asked the bosses whether or not they’ll smoke before work and 19 percent said it’s likely—almost one in five! More than that, 14 percent said that it’s likely they’ll smoke at work. Comparing this to the non-managers shows a stark difference—the numbers are seven percent for before work and four percent for during. It seems bosses are just more comfortable coming into work stoned—or at least telling a researcher that… funny how that works.

“Changes in the workplace are always difficult to navigate, but it appears cannabis legalization for recreational purposes adds a particularly complex disconnect between the expectations and intentions of employers and their employees,” said Hendrik Steenkamp ADP’s human resources director.

“It’s particularly interesting to see that employees without managerial responsibilities are more reserved in their expectations of personal use during working hours than their managerial counterparts.”

ADP claims this break down may stem from how managers tend to be more familiar with their companies incoming rules surrounding cannabis legalization. The HR company is recommending that companies make their incoming cannabis rules abundantly clear to employees of all levels.

The poll found other things like all employees feeling there is going to see “an increase in health and safety incidents,” a decrease in productivity, and Quebec and Alberta workers are the most likely to get stoned before work.

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