Understanding Recovery Friendly Workplace Certification Requirements
Recovery Friendly Workplace certification recognizes employers that have made an intentional commitment and taken meaningful action to support people affected by substance use, addiction, and recovery.
Certification does not mean that a workplace is perfect or that it has completed every possible recovery-friendly practice. It means the organization has built a strong foundation, put its commitment into practice, and demonstrated progress across the program’s four certification areas.
The process is designed to fit Vermont workplaces of different sizes, industries, structures, and levels of capacity.
What is required for certification?
To become certified, an organization will:
Sign the Recovery Friendly Workplace Employer Pledge
Complete the required learning, reflection, and live sessions
Engage employees in appropriate education, communication, and feedback
Take meaningful action across all four certification areas
Complete required program assessments and evaluations
Submit documentation showing how its commitment has been put into practice
Most employers complete the process within approximately 6–12 months.
The Recovery Friendly Workplace Employer Pledge
After onboarding, an authorized representative will sign the Recovery Friendly Workplace Employer Pledge.
The pledge expresses the organization’s commitment to:
Approach recovery with humility
Continue learning about substance use disorder, addiction, and recovery
Practice curiosity rather than judgment
Create a compassionate and respectful workplace
Balance support with accountability
Encourage personal responsibility
Review workplace policies and practices
Provide information about helpful resources
Respect employee confidentiality
Evaluate and continue strengthening its efforts
Signing the pledge is an important commitment, but it does not by itself make an organization certified. Certification recognizes how the organization carries that commitment into its culture, policies, practices, benefits, communication, and employee experience.
The four certification areas
Every employer must demonstrate meaningful work within four interconnected areas.
The particular actions an employer takes will depend on its size, workforce, existing practices, available resources, and regulatory environment. A small business with one person leading the work may implement and document its efforts differently from a large organization with a human resources department and formal benefits program.
1. Culture
A Recovery Friendly Workplace creates an environment in which people affected by substance use, addiction, and recovery are treated with dignity and can seek support without unnecessary shame or judgment.
This area may include:
Visible support from organizational leadership
A written Recovery Friendly Workplace declaration, statement, or policy
Clear expectations related to conduct, performance, impairment, and safety
Practices that balance support with accountability
Respect for employee privacy and confidentiality
Consistent and compassionate responses when concerns arise
Workplace events and traditions that are inclusive of people who do not use alcohol
Opportunities for employees to access support or connect with recovery resources
Communication that helps employees understand the organization’s commitment
Culture is not demonstrated through a statement alone. Employers will be asked to show how their recovery-friendly commitment is reinforced through everyday leadership, communication, decisions, and workplace practices.
2. Hiring, retention, and advancement
Recovery-friendly employment practices allow people affected by substance use disorder or recovery to be considered fairly, supported appropriately, and given meaningful opportunities to remain and grow in the workplace.
This area may include:
Reviewing hiring practices for unnecessary barriers
Considering qualified applicants fairly, including applicants with relevant criminal histories
Applying nondiscrimination protections consistently
Providing reasonable accommodations when appropriate
Establishing clear processes for responding to substance-related performance or safety concerns
Considering return-to-work or continued-employment agreements when appropriate
Helping employees connect with treatment, recovery, or other support
Ensuring that employees in recovery have equitable opportunities for advancement
Developing relationships with recovery organizations or other community partners
Being recovery friendly does not require an employer to overlook conduct, performance, or safety concerns. It asks employers to consider whether accountability, support, and continued employment can appropriately work together.
3. Benefits
Recovery-friendly benefits help employees and their families find and use appropriate support.
Depending on the workplace, this area may include:
Reviewing health insurance coverage for substance use disorder treatment
Understanding how employees access treatment and recovery services through the organization’s health plan
Providing an Employee Assistance Program or another source of confidential assistance
Identifying community-based options when an employer does not offer formal benefits
Maintaining current information about local, statewide, and virtual recovery resources
Helping employees understand what resources are available and how to access them
Reviewing whether existing leave and accommodation practices support treatment and recovery
Considering how benefits and resources support family members and others affected by someone else’s substance use
A small employer without a formal benefits department is not expected to create the same systems as a large employer. What matters is that employees have clear, practical pathways to appropriate information and support.
4. Education and awareness
Education helps people throughout the workplace respond with greater understanding, clarity, and consistency.
This area may include:
Required Recovery Friendly Workplace learning for the people leading the work
Education for supervisors, managers, or human resources staff
Opportunities for employees to learn about substance use disorder, addiction, recovery, and stigma
Clear communication about workplace expectations and available resources
Information about employee rights, confidentiality, and reasonable accommodations
Education about the appropriate role of supervisors
Overdose prevention education and access to naloxone, when appropriate
Ongoing communication rather than a one-time announcement
Supervisors are not expected to become counselors. Education should help them understand their role, communicate expectations, protect confidentiality, respond consistently, and connect employees with appropriate resources.
Required learning and participation
Certification includes more than making policy or benefit changes. The learning process helps employers understand why the requirements matter and how different parts of the workplace reinforce one another.
Required participation includes:
An onboarding meeting for the person or people leading the work
Asynchronous learning and guided reflection activities
Three live learning and peer-connection sessions attended by the primary point of contact
Workplace discussions and implementation activities
Required questionnaires, assessments, and program evaluations
Other members of the organization may participate in the live sessions and learning activities when appropriate.
Engaging employees
Becoming a Recovery Friendly Workplace should not happen entirely behind the scenes.
Employees should have appropriate opportunities to:
Learn about the organization’s commitment
Receive information about substance use disorder, addiction, recovery, and available resources
Understand relevant policies and workplace expectations
Provide feedback about their workplace experience
See how the organization is putting its commitment into practice
The level and form of employee involvement will depend on the workplace. Employers are not expected to ask employees to disclose personal experiences with substance use, addiction, treatment, or recovery.
What documentation will we submit?
Throughout the program, employers will collect examples showing what they have completed within each certification area.
Documentation might include:
A Recovery Friendly Workplace declaration, statement, or policy
Relevant workplace policies or procedures
Employee communications
Training records or descriptions
Resource lists or referral information
Benefits information
Hiring or return-to-work practices
Meeting notes or summaries of workplace discussions
Examples of changes made through participation
A brief explanation of how a practice works within the organization
Employers will submit their certification materials through VAMHAR’s online learning and certification system.
The program will provide guidance about what to collect and how to organize it. Employers are not expected to determine the documentation requirements on their own.
How much evidence is enough?
Certification is based on the substance of the organization’s work - not the length or polish of its documents.
A small employer may provide a short policy, an employee communication, and a written explanation of how a practice works. A larger employer may submit more formal policies, benefits materials, training records, and communications from several departments.
Useful documentation should show:
What the organization has done
How the action relates to the certification area
How employees experience or learn about it
How the organization intends to maintain or strengthen the practice
Whenever possible, employers should submit materials they actually use rather than creating elaborate documents solely for certification.
How is certification determined?
Once an organization has completed the required learning, assessments, workplace actions, and documentation, it may submit its materials for certification review.
VAMHAR will review the submission to determine whether the organization has:
Demonstrated meaningful action across all four certification areas
Completed the required program components
Put its Recovery Friendly Workplace commitment into practice
Established a foundation for continued growth
VAMHAR may ask for clarification, additional information, or further action before making a certification decision. Needing to strengthen or clarify part of a submission does not mean the organization has failed. VAMHAR will help the employer understand what is still needed.
Certification is valid for two years.
What certification does not require
Becoming certified does not require an employer to:
Have a perfect workplace
Complete every possible recovery-friendly action
Implement the same practices as every other employer
Ask employees to disclose personal experiences
Permit substance use or impairment at work
Compromise workplace safety
Eliminate appropriate drug-free workplace policies
Ask supervisors to counsel employees
Have a large human resources department
Offer benefits or programs beyond the organization’s realistic capacity
Finish the work of changing workplace culture
Certification recognizes a meaningful foundation and demonstrated progress. Continued learning and growth are part of remaining a Recovery Friendly Workplace.
What happens after certification?
Certified employers receive materials to help recognize and communicate their achievement. They also become part of Vermont’s growing community of Recovery Friendly Workplaces.
After certification, employers are encouraged to continue:
Reflecting on employee experience
Strengthening policies and practices
Keeping resources current
Educating new employees and leaders
Gathering feedback
Learning with other employers
Responding to new workplace needs
Certification must be renewed every two years. Renewal provides an opportunity to recognize continued growth and identify what the organization wants to strengthen next.
Ready to begin?
If your organization has not yet entered the program, the first step is to submit a Letter of Interest.
If you have already completed the Letter of Interest in the process, you will receive guidance through the online learning and certification system about your next requirements.
Questions about certification may be directed to VAMHAR’s Recovery Friendly Workplace team at rfwvermont@vamhar.org.