Smoking Bans Get Mixed Review.

At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban smoking on the premises at your company?

It depends on the steps you take to support employees trying 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 colleagues.

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 healthcare costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.

How does a use of tobacco ban fit into the cost equation? When the smoker quits, healthcare costs even out.

But if the person only refrains from smoking on the job – but continues puffing away at home – the corporation sees little to no healthcare 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.