Offering employees quit smoking programs

For most smokers, the thought of quitting is unbearable.Nicotine is one of the most addictive substances out there and is extremely powerful is the effects it has one people.As an employer you may have already seen the problem with employees that smoke.Offering employees quit smoking programs can do more than just give them an extra few years to live; programs such as these can be beneficial to the employee as well as the employer.

Smoking Statistics
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• Tobacco use remains the single most preventable cause in the United States.


• - Smoking causes more deaths than AIDS, illegal drugs, alcohol, fires, and suicides combined.


• - Almost 26 million men and 23 million women in the United States are smokers.This means that there at least that many people at risk for heart disease, heart attacks, and stroke.

• It has been statistically proven that employees that smoke get sick more often than those that do not.
• - 30 percent of smokers have difficulty sleeping compared to the 3 percent of the general population.
• - Almost 30 percent suffer from sinus congestion and regular headaches, 33 percent have high blood pressure, and 28 percent suffer from colds and coughs regularly.
• - 20 percent of smokers suffer migraines and 34 percent suffering from disabling fatigue.
• - As many as 75 percent of the cases related to coronary heart disease may be due to cigarette smoking.
• - Just over 40 percent of American children between the ages of 2 and 11 are exposed to secondhand smoke which has proven to be worse than smoking itself

What are the benefits of offering such a program within your company?
Besides the obvious benefits of living a healthier life, there are several benefits to employees as well as employers to offering a quite smoking program.Companies around the world are joining the growing trend of smoke free environments.Here are just a few of the benefits of a smoke free workplace:
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• Saving your employees money.By offering your employees smoking cessation programs you are actually saving them some money.The biggest expense for a smoking employee is having to pay to join a program.This is one of the biggest reasons many don't do it; they don't have the extra cash.Another way employers will be saving their employees money is by cutting their health care costs.Employees that smoke pay higher health insurance premiums than those that don't.A smoking cessation program might also mean eventually they will make fewer trips to the doctor for smoking related illnesses.


• - Saving wasted time and money for the company.By helping your employees quit smoking you can also save your company some wasted time and money.Many health insurance companies will offer discounts to companies that enforce a no smoking policy.It can also save on the wasted time that employees take for smoke breaks as well as cleaning carpets, walls, etc.It costs companies more to maintain their building and property with employees that smoke.


• - Group support.When you're trying to quit smoking it's much easier if you have the support of your co-workers whom you spend most of your day with.When you implement smoking cessation classes your employees have instant group support to help them through this hard time.

Offering employees quit smoking programs are beneficial to both your employees and to your company.It can be extremely difficult to beat individually, so giving them an instant support group is one of the best ways to help people to quit smoking.