New Research Shows Who’s Worried About Drug Tests At Work

By Matt Zajechowski

You don’t have to be a pilot or pro athlete to fear drug testing for your employer. Millions of Americans are potentially suspect to drug testing in their workplace each year. And if you’re searching in Google for “does my company drug test” it’s likely not an accident.  Some workers are naturally more concerned about workplace drug testing than others.

An employee screening firm named JDP, recently analyzed 12 months of Google search trends data related to 150 of America’s biggest employers and best-known brands to find out whose employees are the most concerned about workplace drug tests.  Let’s take a look at the methodology before taking a look into the full list of top companies.

Methodology

In March of 2019, JDP captured and analyzed national Google search trends data that relates specifically to search queries about drug testing at a list of 150 specific companies. To complete the analysis, they used the exact search term “does <company> drug test”. Company was replaced with the 150 companies analyzed. Specific examples include “does Apple drug test” and “does Home Depot drug test”, etc. This specific search term was done for every company on the list. The analysis captured a rolling 12-month average for each specific term.

In order to make sure the search volume was fair from one company to the next, they established approximate sizes of workforces for each company using sources like company websites, shareholders reports, Wiki and Statista. This was important to do because there was such a wide range in the number of employees from one company to the next.

With search volume and workforce size, they were able to establish the relative rates at which queries are made about each specific companies’ drug test policy as the term employees per search.  A lower number of employees per search means that there are more searches per employee which shows a great relevance of concern as a company as a whole. 

Let’s take a look at the full rankings list.

The companies most concerned about drug testing

1. Aldi (13 employees per search)
2. PetSmart (42 employees per search)
3. Sonic Drive-In (46 employees per search)
4. GameStop (47 employees per search)
5. McDonald’s (49 employees per search)
6. Ulta Beauty (50 employees per search)
7. Hobby Lobby (54 employees per search)
8. Foot Locker (59 employees per search)
9. Target (60 employees per search)
10. Trader Joe’s (64 employees per search)
11. Costco (75 employees per search)
12. Dollar General (81 employees per search)
13. Michaels (83 employees per search)
14. Amazon (83 employees per search)
15. Family Dollar (83 employees per search)
16. Panera Bread (84 employees per search)
17. Kohl’s (85 employees per search)
18. Whole Foods (87 employees per search)
19. Chipotle (89 employees per search)
20. Tesla (94 employees per search)
21. Menards (94 employees per search)
22. Best Buy (96 employees per search)
23. Wendy’s (99 employees per search)
24. Starbucks (101 employees per search)
25. Chick-fil-A (120 employees per search)
26. Burger King (126 employees per search)
27. AutoZone (137 employees per search)
28. UPS (138 employees per search)
29. H-E-B (139 employees per search)
30. Ross Dress for Less (140 employees per search)
31. KFC (143 employees per search)
32. Home Depot (145 employees per search)
33. Bed Bath & Beyond (165 employees per search)
34. Apple (167 employees per search)
35. Dollar Tree (176 employees per search)
36. Panda Express (181 employees per search)
37. FedEx (185 employees per search)
38. Google (185 employees per search)
39. Olive Garden (186 employees per search)
40. Wegmans (188 employees per search)
41. Pizza Hut (203 employees per search)
42. Meijer (241 employees per search)
43. Publix (243 employees per search)
44. CVS Pharmacy (246 employees per search)
45. JCPenney (251 employees per search)
46. Macy’s (271 employees per search)
47. Taco Bell (274 employees per search)
48. Walmart (278 employees per search)
49. Rite Aid (290 employees per search)
50. Albertsons (310 employees per search)
51. Nordstrom (318 employees per search)
52. Dominos’ Pizza (319 employees per search)
53. Walgreens (319 employees per search)
54. Arby’s (381 employees per search)
55. Wells Fargo (394 employees per search)
56. Subway (442 employees per search)
57. Kroger (449 employees per search)
58. Safeway (469 employees per search)
59. Bank of America (548 employees per search)
60. Chase (1129 employees per search)

The list was also segmented into different categories by industry to see how worried workers in different industries. Industries that were analyzed were fast food, superstore shopping centers, grocery stories, tech companies, discount shopping stores, apparel, shipping companies and hardware stores. The full breakdown can be seen in the graphic below from JDP.

Matt Zajechowski is the Outreach Director at Digital Third Coast.  Connect with him on Twitter and LinkedIn.