At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban tobacco use on the premises at your company?
It depends on the steps you take to support staff members 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-tobacco use coworkers.
And even when the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, doesn’t have chronic health 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? When the smoker quits, health costs even out.
But if the individuals only refrains from use of tobacco on the job – but continues puffing away at home – the corporation sees little to no health 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 ordinarily doesn’t.