Use of tobacco Bans Get Mixed Review.

At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban tobacco use on the premises at your corporation?

It depends on the steps you take to support employees trying to kick the habit, finds a recent published study .  The Journal of Tobacco Policy and Research found that smokers do, truly  take more sick days than their non-use of tobacco peers.

And even if the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, does not have chronic health conditions), he or she’s still likely to have higher health care costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.

Exactly how does a smoking ban fit into the cost equation? If the smoker quits, medical costs even out.

But when the individuals only refrains from tobacco use on the job â.” but continues puffing away at home â.” the corporation sees little to no health care cost decrease.  The published study  found similar patterns for absenteeism.

Bottom line -  A workplace smoking ban in combo with a smoking cessation program gets results. A smoking ban alone generally doesn’t.