Absenteeism among smokers is roughly 50 percent higher than
non-smoking employees.
The US Surgeon General estimates the annual cost to a
business for each smoking employee is $3,400.
Nearly 50 percent of smokers say they take between three and
six smoking breaks per day at work, and more than two-thirds of
those who take smoke breaks said they last between five and
fifteen minutes, according to a survey by the National Business
Group on Health.
Most employers said that they believe that establishing
smoke-free workplaces is the best way to encourage smokers to
quit, but the survey found that employees who smoke said that
they wish that employers would offer access to smoking cessation
benefits to help them quit.
Employers have a legal right to restrict smoking in the
workplace, or implement a totally smoke-free workplace policy.
Exceptions may arise in the case of collective bargaining
agreements with unions.
Employers ranked smoking among their top three employee
health priorities along with high blood pressure and obesity.
Furthermore, eighty-two percent of employers said that they
should take steps to help employees quit smoking.
Workplaces nationwide are going smoke-free to provide clean
indoor air and protect employees from the harmful,
life-threatening effects of secondhand smoke. According to a
2000 Gallup poll, 95 percent of Americans, smokers and
nonsmokers, believe companies should either ban smoking totally
in the workplace or restrict it to separately ventilated areas.
Employers that hire smokers bear indirect costs, including
more employee absenteeism, productivity losses ($92 billion) and
increased early retirement due to smoking-related illness.
Prohibiting smoking in the workplace can have an immediate
and dramatic impact on the health of workers and patrons. A
study conducted in Helena, MT, found that the number of heart
attacks fell by 40 percent during a six-month period in 2002
when the city's comprehensive smoke-free air law was in effect.
Each pack of cigarettes sold in the United States costs the
nation an estimated $7.18 in medical-care costs and lost
productivity.
