Employee Health Screening

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 staff members trying to kick the habit, finds a recent study .  The Journal of Tobacco Policy and Research found that smokers do, truly  take more sick days than their non-smoking colleagues.

And even when the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, does not have chronic medical conditions), he or she is still likely to have higher health care costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.

Precisely how does a tobacco use ban fit into the cost equation? If the smoker quits, medical costs even out.

But if the individuals only refrains from use of tobacco on the job â.” but continues puffing away at home â.” the company sees little to no medical cost decrease.  The research study  found similar patterns for absenteeism.

Bottom line –  A workplace use of tobacco ban in combo with a use of tobacco cessation program gets results. A use of tobacco ban alone typically doesn’t.