Benefits and Trends of Hiring Non-Smoking Employees

Most employers prefer to hire non-smokers because people who smoke take more breaks, lowering job productivity.² By offering cessation services and creating smoke-free policies, you are helping your clients prepare for employment by helping them become more marketable to employers. Check out the facts for yourself, and make the smoke-free choice!

Facts

• A smoker who quits smoking could save employers an estimated $960 in excess illness costs each year.⁶

• In a national study, tobacco use was one of the greatest variables observed when determining worker lost production time (LPT). Employees who smoked had approximately two times more LPT per week than non non-smokers, a cost of nearly $27 billion in productivity losses to employers.²

• A pack a day smoker needs a cigarette every 50 minutes to ward off withdrawal symptoms.⁴

• Smokers have twice the accident rate of non-smokers.⁴

• Facing reduced productivity and higher insurance costs from people who smoke, many employers are deciding not to hire tobacco users.⁵

• Smokers have absenteeism rates that are about 34 percent higher than nonsmokers. Nonsmokers who are exposed to secondhand smoke also develop higher rates of illness.⁵

• From 1997 to 2001, cigarette smoking was responsible for an estimated $167 billion in annual health-related economic losses in the United States, about $3,561 per adult smoker. Of that, $167 billion, $75 billion is in direct medical costs and $92 billion is attributable to lost productivity, according to the CDC.⁵