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What smoking costs your business
More and more pressure is being brought to bear on businesses to assist their smoking employees to quit. There are very good and valid business reasons for doing so. The cost to your business of not helping staff stop smoking is financially significant.
Employer costs:
The minimum number of breaks a smoker would normally take during the day is two (in some industries and areas of the country this minimum is higher). As smokers now have to officially leave the building to smoke their cigarette it takes approximately 15 minutes for each break so: -
2 x 15 min breaks a day = 2.5 hours per week = 120 hours a year or 3 and a half weeks per year
Annual Costs of time taken for cigarette breaks plus extra sick leave Weekly Salary Annual cost per smoker Annual cost per 10 smokers £250 £1,125
£11,250 * Estimates include additional 33 hours sick leave per year, total time lost is 4.5 weeks on average
Did you know -
- Did you know that 25% of the population smoke?
- You could lose an average of 33 hours per smoking employee per year in productivity due to illness.
- More than 70% of people who smoke want to quit
- You can help your employees to stop smoking, reduce absenteeism and reduce your lost productivity hours by supporting and encouraging them to quit
- The NICE guidance recommends that employers should encourage and support their staff by providing financial support and financial incentives
"People who smoke should be allowed to take time off work to attend smoking clinics to help them give up without any loss of pay, according to new public health recommendations.
The National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence has issued the guidelines for every workplace in England, in preparation for the smoking ban in enclosed public places starting on July 1"
Allowing smokers to take time out to get help with stopping smoking, with no loss of pay, will undoubtedly be an expensive process, and will also prove unpopular in the extreme with those who don't smoke and so won't get the same paid time out, so what is the alternative?
In reviewing corporate response to smoking cessation an American study noted that companies routinely:
- Underestimate the number of smokers in their workforce
- Underestimate the cost to the business of smokers in the workplace and therefore underestimate the reasons to help them stop
Direct Costs
- Productivity costs due to extra sick leave due to smoking
- Productivity costs due to time taken for smoking breaks
- Increased health insurance premiums
Indirect Costs
- Impact on other workers with smokers in the workplace
- Increased fire risk
- Loss of key personnel through illness