increasing tobacco free workplaces
According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, cigarette smoking and secondhand smoke cost 92 billion dollars annually in productivity loss. A new research study conducted by Ohio State University puts the employer cost of tobacco use per employee at $4,056 in estimated lost productivity costs and $2,056 in estimated lost medical costs. This means that the annual cost to your bottom line is over $6,000 for each employee that smokes.
Getting Started
As Florida businesses navigate the economic uncertainty of the future, it is increasingly important to consider costs, productivity losses, and staffing expenses to stay competitive in the marketplace.
Many businesses like yours are discovering that addressing tobacco use in the workplace can have a profound effect on profitability. About 70 percent of smokers want to quit, but quitting tobacco is tough. Limiting the productivity losses and health care costs associated with tobacco may be as simple as creating an environment that empowers employees to reach their own tobacco free goals.
As a business leader, one of the best tools you have to support the efforts of your employees trying to quit tobacco is to make your business tobacco free through a tobacco free grounds policy.
Why tobacco free instead of smoke-free?
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A Tobacco-Free Grounds Policy:
- is a written policy that prohibits the use of any tobacco product on your company property.
- is one of the most supportive things you can do to help your employees quit tobacco by removing temptation and social pressures to use tobacco at work.
- nearly doubles the chance that your employees will achieve their goals to quit tobacco.
- protects both your employees and visitors from exposure to secondhand smoke.
- protects your bottom line from health care costs and productivity losses.
Employer Resources for a Healthier and More Cost Effective Business
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References
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Quitting Smoking Among Adults ---
United States, 2001--2010. MMWR. 2011;60(44):1513–1519. - U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2006). The health consequences of
involuntary exposure to tobacco smoke: A report of the Surgeon General. Atlanta, GA. - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Smoke-free policies reduce smoking. Accessed June 29, 2013. Available at: http://www.cdc.gov/tobacco/data_statistics/fact_sheets/secondhand_
smoke/protection/reduce_smoking. - Berman M., Crane R., Seiber E., & Munur M. (2013). Estimating the cost of
a smoking employee. Tobacco Control. Advance online publication. doi: 10.1136/
tobaccocontrol-2012-050888 - Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2010). Implementing a tobacco free
campus initiative in your workplace.