Doubling down on drug testing — Taking the Hire Road

This week on Taking the Hire Road, Jeremy Reymer, founder and CEO of DriverReach, is joined by Grady Phillips, senior director of strategic accounts at WorkforceQA (WFQA).

Phillips previously was president of his father’s company, Corporate Medical Services (CMS), from 2012 until he joined the WFQA team earlier this year. He came to the “industry best practices table” to help companies improve their hiring and qualification processes.

“Speed and accuracy are the name of the game and the biggest hindrance to activating a driver is the turnover time of the initial drug test,” Phillips said. “There have been a lot of medical clinics across the country who have serious turnover and lack of expertise. For carriers, that’s what CMS corrected and that’s what WFQA corrects. At the end of the day, it’s about getting that driver into that seat faster.”

Phillips said alcohol and drug testing has evolved over the years and now includes the Department of Transportation electronic chain of custody, which tracks every person who has handled a sample between collection and analysis. On the positive side, electronic forms enable clients to order testing at roughly 4,000 locations across the country. On the negative side, some parts of the process still require paper documents, creating inconsistencies in the translation from electronic to paper.

“[WFQA] is working to address that. Our CEO realizes that this is not something that should always be required and is actively working and pushing to enhance this product so we can mitigate these delays and create a paperless process from beginning to end,” he said.

As of 2020, transportation companies are required to run full drug and alcohol queries on prospective drivers and report any violations directly to DOT. Phillips said WFQA is there to help clients every step of the way. 

To learn more about WorkforceQA, visit its website.

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