Is smoking costing your company money?

Smoking is one of the unhealthiest things a person can do to themselves. In addition to causing an assortment of cancers, health concerns, and eventually premature death, it is becoming more and more frowned upon in society as well as in the workplace.

Employees who smoke are more likely to have higher medical bills and more serious medical problems as a result, including various cancers, emphysema, and bronchitis. The addiction to nicotine also makes them less likely to focus on work unless they have a cigarette break. This presents a financial burden to employers in a number of ways.

There are a number of ways smoking can be costing your company money, including:

• Higher health care costs. Direct health care costs to the company may be reduced when fewer employees smoke, and often times, insurance companies will lower health, life, and disability insurance coverage when employee smoking is lowered dramatically.
• Maintenance. Maintenance costs are lowered when workers do not have to clean up after smokers. Smoking leaves cigarette butts everywhere, films on walls and surfaces in break rooms, and also creates a potential fire hazard.
• Decreased productivity. Studies show that smokers are sicker than non-smokers, often as the result of smoking and the strain it puts on the entire body. This means they have to take more sick days, resulting in less productivity. Not only that, but smokers have been shown to take far more short breaks for a cigarette throughout the day, meaning less time to get their own work done.

How to get employees to quit smoking
It's obvious a work place benefits from fewer smokers. So how do you get your employees to quit smoking? One idea is to offer incentives to those who stop smoking. This can be done in a number of ways, including:

• Cash incentives. Cash is always a great motivator. Set up a stop-smoking program and then offer cash to employees who reach their goals and remain smoke-free. While it is up to your discretion how much you offer, a good rule of thumb is $500 per year per employee who participates in the program.


• Gift certificates. Gift certificates are another popular option. They can be to malls, restaurants, or generic gift cards that are good everywhere and always appreciated.


• Paid time off. Some companies pay their employees to stop smoking via added vacation days.


• Lowered insurance premiums. One of the best ways to help employees see how taking care of their health pays off is to offer lower insurance premiums.


• Smoking cessation programs. Reimbursing employees for taking smoking cessation programs, or paying for them as a company, is another way you can get employees to quit smoking.

Many companies have found a number of benefits to paying employees to stop smoking. It sounds great, but is it really a good idea? Some companies worry about the cost-effectiveness of the programs themselves. However, numerous studies have shown that employees who utilize stop-smoking programs lower their health services. This results in substantial savings to employers on the costs to implement and reward employees.

If you are worried that smoking is costing your company money, you should be-it is. Encouraging your employees to stop smoking is a smart move that will not only save their health, but save you money as well.