How we feel about weed in the workplace: It's complicated

What you do on your own time is OK, Illinoisans say in a survey. Not so when it comes to work.

John Pletz

 

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Weed is about to become legal in Illinois. For many workers, it means what you do on your own time, at least where marijuana use is concerned, will be your own business. Your employer can’t hold it against you, unless you’re on call or work at a place where safety or other rules prohibit it.

How will your co-workers feel about your recreational pursuits? Two-thirds of them are likely to be OK with it, according to a survey of 1,000 Illinois residents last month by PSB Research, a unit of Burson Cohn & Wolfe.

But things change when it comes to weed at work. About half of workers said it's not OK for a colleague to use cannabis at a social function related to work. Forty percent also disapproved of using marijuana on a lunch break.

There's also a divide when it comes to the boss and weed. Fifty-six percent of those surveyed don't like the idea of senior leaders using cannabis with their junior colleagues—inside or outside the workplace.