How much money do employers lose on smokers?

Having smokers on your staff will cost you more money. How much more money, that all depends on how many staff members you have and the insurance company you work with. Here are some of the costs that will go up when you have employees that smoke:

• Increased life, dental, and health insurance costs
• Lost productivity due to sick leave and smoke breaks
• Increase in the number of sick leave used
• Ventilation costs, you must try to keep the offer air clean and smoke-free even though the smell may stick to your employees clothes
• Additional training costs because you may lose a staff member to lung disease or heart failure as a direct result of smoking
• Increased workers compensation claims
• Increased insurance coverage on your office because the smoking employees bring an increased risk of accidents and fire
• Property damage, smoking causes assets to actually decrease
• Smoke pollution outside and inside the building. You will end up spending more money in cleaning costs to remove the smell of cigarette smoke.
• Illness among your healthy employees that are exposed to second-hand smoke

All of these costs will add up quickly and pretty soon you will start to get frustrated with your employees that smoke. If you are like most employers, you are probably looking for a way to cut costs. Insurance premiums always tend to be at the top of the list when companies search for ways to reduce costs. The good thing about having employees that smoke is that it is 100 percent controllable. Some health problems cannot be prevented, but smoking and obesity can. If you can convince your employees to live a healthier lifestyle, your health insurance premiums will go down. You will also see a decrease in the amount of sick leave that is used and workers comp claims.

If you have tried a wellness program and you still have employees that want to smoke, move onto another method, punishment. You can start charging your employees more money in health insurance costs if they smoke because they are the reason why you have to pay more money to begin with. Several companies have adopted this policy and it actually forces people to quit smoking. If you want to be really aggressive, you can charge your employees more money if they live with someone that smokes because they are constantly being exposed to second-hand smoke. Second-hand smoke is just as dangerous as smoking and several healthy people actually have died as a direct result of second-hand smoke.

If you don't want to punish your employees, you can try using incentives to get them to live a healthier lifestyle. Incentives actually do work and people will do just about anything for them if they are good ones. Financial compensation is the number one incentive and it can easily get people to quit smoking, lose weight, or simply life a healthier lifestyle. If you implement a wellness program, spend a few hours talking about the health complications that come along with smoking and obesity. Show your employees stats about how much money the company pays jus to keep them employed. When people have physical data to look at, it will actually shock them how much money their lifestyle choices are costing the company. Education is the key to prevention and this may be the motivation they need to start living a healthy lifestyle.

Make sure you are a good support group for your staff members that decide to quit smoking. It is not easy to give-up something that has been part of their life so they will need motivation from you and their co-workers to push through the cravings and addiction to smoking.