SPECIAL FEATURES:
Email
Great American Smokeout: Smoking affects workplace productivity
A look at the link between smoking and decreased worker productivity in honor of the 2012 Great American Smokeout.
Tue, Nov 13 2012 at 2:00 PM
Related Topics:
Photo: Fried Dough/Flickr
The 37th Great American Smokeout is Thursday, November 15. Sponsored by the American Cancer Society, the event encourages smokers to use November 15th as a milestone in their stop smoking journey.
Quitting smoking isn’t just good for your health, it is also good for your pocketbook. If you stop smoking you’ll save money on cigarettes, reduce smoking-related healthcare costs and even save money by reducing your fuel use by eliminating all of those quick trips to the store for a pack of smokes.
If you quit smoking, you can also help your employer save money. Over the years numerous studies have shown that smokers are less productive than their non-smoking coworkers. A study published in the October 2006 issue of the Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (PDF) put a dollar figure on productivity loss by smokers.
According to the researchers, productivity lost by nonsmokers was quantified at $2,623 per year. This number jumped to $3,426 for former smokers and $4,430 for current smokers. The research team determined that more than half of the costs were due to decreased productivity while on the job with the rest of the productivity loss a result of absences.
When a company employs fewer smokers, they also experience other economic benefits:
- Direct health care costs may go down with fewer smokers on a plan
- Risk of fire is lower, possibly reducing insurance premiums
- Facility and ground maintenance costs decrease because there are fewer smoking-related waste items to clean up
- Office furniture lasts longer
If you are a smoker, I encourage you to participate in the 2012 Great American Smokeout and I wish you good luck in your stop smoking journey.
The opinions expressed by MNN Bloggers and those providing comments are theirs alone, and do not reflect the opinions of MNN.com. While we have reviewed their content to make sure it complies with our Terms and Conditions, MNN is not responsible for the accuracy of any of their information.
You might also like:
Sign in with one of these accounts to add your comment.
EDITORS' PICKS
Advertisement
TODAY'S MOST POPULAR ON
- Military dog comes home from Iraq traumatized
- Honey bees could help to clear dangerous land mines in Croatia
- 13 natural remedies for the ant invasion
- 15 famous people who mysteriously disappeared
- 20 ways to reuse coffee grounds, tea leaves
- 10 of the top U.S. cities for nature lovers
- 10 false facts most people think are true
- Stem cell discovery reignites human cloning debate
- Justin Bieber will lose his monkey at midnight
- U.S. solider and stray cat save each other in Afghanistan
From our sponsor
NEWSLETTER
ABOUT Melissa Hincha-Ownby
Business guru blogs about the latest in green biz.
Advertisement
The trouble with this thesis is that smokers think they would be LESS productive if they DIDN'T smoke.
In this alternate universe smoking has a special rationale that is worth understanding. Brands have specific meanings crafted to deliver psychological benefits to each kind of smokers. Knowing what they are is the key to quitting.
You can read about it in Cigarette Seduction www.cigseduction.com.
exactly how doesn't it make office furniture last longer? that doesn't make any sense at all - the rest I agree with
A person that smokes while at work, even while outside, will be wearing clothes that smell smoky. If smoky clothes sit on a fabric office chair day after day, it is going to seep into the chair. When that person leaves the company, the next person in line isn't going to want to sit in a stinky office chair. I've been in this position - granted it was more than a decade ago - but the company had to replace a perfectly functional office chair because it reeked.
Does not Doesn't