Why you need to help your employees to quit smoking

Most business are in business to make money, but what you might not realize is that if you have employees who smoke this can be affecting how much money your business is making. One of the biggest reasons that you should help your employees quit smoking is because it is good for the business, because it can save your business money. However, the main reason that you should help your employees quit smoking is for your employees' health.

Here are some of the other reasons as to why you should help your employees to quit smoking.

Reason one:
If your employees smoke your business is wasting money each year. By getting your employees to quit smoking you will actually be able to save that money that you are wasting each year, which can mean bigger bonuses for your employees or even higher wages. For each adult employee that you have employed at your business who smokes you are losing $1,760 in lost production on average each year. You are also spending an additional $1,623 in medical expenses on average each year.

Reason two:
Helping your employees quit smoking will also help reduce the amount of absenteeism in your place of business. The main reason for this is that when people quit smoking they become healthier, which means they will not be calling into work sick as often. The less time that people spend out being sick can also help increase productivity in your workplace. Another reason that helping your employees quit smoking is going to help decrease absenteeism is because they will not have to call in sick as often to take care of a sick child. Studies have shown that children who are not exposed to second hand smoke or whose parents are non-smokers actually have fewer colds, coughs, and ear infections.

Reason three:
By helping your employees quit smoking you are going to boost their morale. If you think about it if you have a strict no smoking policy and you have to enforce it because people are breaking that policy you are going to be lowering the morale of your employees because they do not like getting into trouble. What you can do instead of getting them into trouble is to offer a program that will help them quit smoking. By giving your employees referrals to quitting services they are going to be able to get the help they need to quit smoking, which will mean no more violating office policies. This alone can lead to an increase in employee morale, but also an increase in productivity.

Reason four:
Getting your employees to quit smoking is also the most cost effective health benefit for adults. The best way to get your employees to do this is to offer tobacco cessation treatment referrals or programs to your employees. It has been proven through numerous studies that smokers are 2 to 3 times more likely to quit smoking when they have help than they are when they try to do it on their own. Quitting smoking has also been proven to help prevent numerous expensive health problems, such as heart disease, stroke, multiple cancers, respiratory diseases, pre-term labor, and low birth-weight. By preventing these serious health problems your health insurance premiums from work will not be as expensive, plus your employees will not have huge medical bills that are related to health problems caused from smoking.

Helping your employees quit smoking is going to be cheaper for your business in the end, than if your employees continue to smoke.