More Reasons To Quit Smoking
In an opinion piece this morning entitled “Getting employees to quit smoking is a good thing, within reason“, the Editorial Board of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel say that, “Encouraging smokers to quit, with the stick or the carrot, is one thing, but making it a condition of their job security or career path is overstepping the line.”
Overstepping the line in what way? Are employers supposed to simply bear the increased costs associated with having employees who smoke?
Are the editors of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel aware that:
- Smoking employees cost an employer an average of $1,429 per smoker per year in increased health care costs over nonsmoking employees (and this does not include the costs of lost productivity and absenteeism)?
- Employees who take four 10-minute smoke breaks a day actually work a full month less every year than workers who don’t take smoking breaks?
- Smokers are absent from work 50% more than nonsmokers, and are also 50% more likely to be hospitalized and have 15% higher disability rates?
Would the Editorial Board of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel say the same thing about alcoholics? Are employers who require alcoholics to quit drinking as a condition of their job security or career path overstepping the line?
What about heroin addicts? Cocaine addicts? Are employers who require addicts in general to quit feeding their addictions as a condition of their job security or career path overstepping the line?
Why the special case for smokers? Last I heard, Florida wasn’t even in the Top 10 Tobacco-producing states (although it was 11th in total acreage devoted to tobacoo cultivation).
Ultimately, it’s you and me who pay the increased costs for employers who continue to employ smokers, and I applaud any employer who tries to help their employees quit smoking, whether they use the carrot or the stick; as a nation, we can’t afford to keep subsidizing this addiction.
Really good and really interesting post. I expect (and other readers maybe :)) new useful posts from you!
Good luck and successes in blogging!
I quit smoking about 15 years ago, it was the best thing I ever did.
Good article!
Good find about employers requiring employees to stop smoking, but I think this is one of those “slippery slope” issues. There is no denying that smoking is bad for you, just as there is no denying that being overweight is bad for you. So then do we start mandating people stay fit. If you’re 30 lbs overweight do you lose your job? While cancer is the main negative side effect from smoking, diabetes and heart disease are the main side effects from obesity. All these conditions are a burden on our health care system and on employers.
I have to disagree with your “slippery slope” argument, Roger; there is none, as far as I can see:
If an employee engages in behavior that negatively affects their job performance and/or costs their employer more because they engage in that behavior, the employer is well within their rights to demand that the employee stop that behavior, and if the employee refuses, to fire them.