At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban use of tobacco on the premises at your company?
It depends on the steps you take to support employees attempting to kick the habit, finds a recent research study . The Journal of Tobacco Policy and Research found that smokers do, truly take more sick days than their non-use of tobacco peers.
And even when the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, doesn’t have chronic medical conditions), he or she is still likely to have higher medical costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.
How does a smoking ban fit into the cost equation? If the smoker quits, healthcare costs even out.
But if the individuals only refrains from tobacco use on the job – but continues puffing away at home – the business sees little to no healthcare cost decrease. The study found similar patterns for absenteeism.
Bottom line – A workplace tobacco use ban in combo with a tobacco use cessation program gets results. A tobacco use ban alone typically doesn’t.
