Substance abuse in the workplace can cost companies valuable time and money. Workers who abuse drugs and alcohol tend to be less productive, miss more work days, are more likely to injure themselves or others, and file more worker's compensation claims.

The federal Employee Polygraph Protection Act of 1988 prohibits most private sector employers from using polygraph or lie detector tests to screen job applicants for employment or to test current employees.

Since the Employee Polygraph Protection Act became effective, polygraph testing of job applicants has been virtually eliminated from private businesses and largely been replaced with honesty and psychological tests.

Research has shown that pre-employment skills testing can often be a highly accurate method of predicting a job applicant's work performance. Consequently, more companies are using them to screen for qualified and competent workers.