Workplace Smoking Trends: Statistics on Productivity and Quitting
- QuitSure Team
- 9 hours ago
- 6 min read
When people smoke at work, it isn’t only about their health; it also affects how much the employer can earn and the workplace environment. It has been found that employers lose more money with workers who smoke due to extra absences and lower work performance.
Each year, current smokers lose more work than former smokers or non-smokers, amounting to $4,430, compared to $3,246 for former smokers and $2,623 for non-smokers.
Also, because smokers usually take more breaks to smoke, their performance at work drops. The result of these factors is a high amount of financial damage for businesses. Understand that quitting has a very quick effect on your ability to work productively.
It has been found that employees who give up smoking miss less time at work and are more efficient. Installing smoking cessation apps is beneficial for employees as well as for the finances of employers.
The Productivity Pitfalls of Smoking
1. Increased Absenteeism
Those who smoke often miss more days at work than those who don’t. The review found that smokers are about 33% more likely to stay home from work ill, taking an average of 2.7 additional days off each year.
It was shown in Taiwan that, on average, men who smoke use up 4.36 more sick days a year than men who do not smoke (PMC, PubMed). This period of absenteeism can make the team work harder, interrupt the agenda, and bring extra challenges to HR and health systems.
2. Presenteeism: Being Present but Unproductive
As well as missing work, smoking can make employees less productive while still being present. Symptoms from nicotine withdrawal, cravings, and diseases caused by smoking can reduce thinking ability and mental focus.
Pivot and Employee Benefit News report that over 75% of productivity losses among smokers happen because of presenteeism. Even though it isn’t always clear, this hidden cost can seriously affect the way the entire team performs and delivers results.
3. Taking Regular Smoking Breaks
Each small smoke break you take during the day will quickly add up. On average, each smoke break takes 8 minutes, while employees in industries such as construction may spend as much as 73 minutes on smoke breaks each workday (Pivot). Such issues work out to over an hour of wasted daily time. It can influence project completion and the achievements of the organization.
Strategies for Employers to Promote Smoking Cessation
Helping employees quit smoking improves their health and also benefits the company’s bottom line. Smoking can reduce the amount workers can do, drive up healthcare costs, and cause employees to miss work. Here are some effective methods employers can try to help employees quit smoking:
1. Ensure All Workplaces Are 100% Smoke-Free
Make sure there is no smoking anywhere on the company’s premises. It makes things clear and safeguards people who do not smoke by keeping secondhand smoke away from them. Employers using these policies typically note that staff attempt to quit more often and smoke less.
2. Introduce Evidence-Based Cessation Programs
Offer workers counseling sessions and access to nicotine patches, prescription medications, or other medications for assisting with quitting. Such programs strongly improve the chances of people successfully quitting.
3. Grant both financial and non-financial benefits.
Bonuses, gift cards, or minor health premium changes, as people do not smoke, can help keep workers interested in quitting for good. Experts have found that the use of incentives can increase the number of people quitting by two or three times.
4. Encourage a Positive Work Environment
Ensure that the conversation about quitting smoking can take place. Recognize major events, highlight positive outcomes, and get support from top management to prove you care about wellness.
5. Encourage your employees to try the QuitSure app.
Prefer the QuitSure app for anyone looking to quit using contributing psychology tactics. There is a program in the app that combines cognitive behavioral therapy with habit-reversal techniques, all in one structured space. Using it is convenient; it supports various employee schedules, and it is backed by research.
The Positive Effects of Quitting Smoking
These are some of the fantastic things that happen when you give up smoking:
1. Health benefits straight away
You start to see health improvements quickly after you quit smoking. In only 20 minutes after your last cigarette, your heart rate and blood pressure will normalize. After about 24 hours, breathing gets easier because lung function has improved.
A lot of people experience a rise in energy and better performance in their bodies after a little over two weeks. Such improvements in medical treatments lower the risk of both heart and breathing problems, which helps to secure your future health. According to The Irish Sun.
2. Greater ability to get things done
When you quit smoking, you may find you work better. Studies find that productivity increases a lot for people who previously quit smoking but not for those still smoking. In fact, people who used to smoke scored better on seven out of ten measures of work performance.
It also covers focus, staying power, and efficiency. Leaving cigarettes behind also eases nicotine cravings and the effects of withdrawal, so employees can focus better on their jobs all day. (Source: Shortlister)
3. Economic Benefits
Quitting smoking is good for both your well-being and the nation’s economy. According to one estimate, if smokers in England gave up, as much as £10.9 billion per year could be put back into the local economy. People who stop smoking can often save themselves £1,776, which they could use for everyday needs, entertainment, or saving.
Financial Implications for Employers
1. Expensive Healthcare
Employees who smoke are responsible for more health costs due to illnesses tied to smoking, such as heart problems, lung disease, and cancer. According to PubMed, employers have to pay another $659 each year in medical and pharmacy expenses for every employee who smokes. Such repeated expenses put a burden on health plans and contribute to higher insurance charges everywhere.
2. The effect of economic growth
Having a smoker on the job brings extra charges apart from those for health care. PMC and Shortlister have found that each worker who smokes costs their employer about $5,816 yearly. Total healthcare expenses for such workers are $2,056, and they lose out on $3,760 of productive time. The time people spend having smoke breaks, being absent, and struggling with nicotine makes them less efficient.
3. Impact on the Process of Hiring and Retaining Staff
Smoking can influence a company’s process of finding workers and retaining them. Research has found that people who smoke are 24% less likely to get hired within a year than people who don’t smoke. Restricted immigration can mean fewer options for companies and increases the chance that teams will be destabilized down the road
How the QuitSure App Helps Employees Quit Smoking?
QuitSure uses science and technology to help employees stop smoking without turning to nicotine replacements or medications. This approach, combined with a studied process, allows it to be a valued tool for workplace wellness.
1. Motivated by Psychology, Not by Willpower
QuitSure encourages users to use CBT, mindfulness, and positive psychology to overcome the feelings that drive them to smoke. The program helps users change their thoughts about smoking and lowers the urge to smoke because of emotional ties.
2. Personalized 6-Day Program
You can use the app for a structured 6-day program that consists of 6–10 hours of interesting videos, reading, and assignments. During this stage, users can keep smoking, slowly changing their attitude until they are prepared to stop, often without side effects.
3. Being aware of your mind and its reactions
With QuitSure, people are motivated to pay attention to the taste, smell, and sensations when they smoke. Being more aware breaks the usual routine and clearly shows the bad results of smoking, which makes quitting easier.
4. Adaptable, Private, and Growing
With QuitSure, those pressed for time can complete quits through their smartphone whenever they have a moment. No special habits or announcements are needed on the program, so it goes smoothly with work-life balance.
Ending Note
Smoking at work causes less productive employees, more people missing from work, and extra healthcare expenses. They can hurt employee health as well as influence how the business performs. The positive results of quitting smoking happen right away, such as better focus, a healthier body, and boosted office moods. Employers play an important role by helping staff quit smoking.
The QuitSure app is a leading modern program that helps users stop smoking in a healthy and relaxing way. With support for habits and a custom psychological method, QuitSure eases quitting and helps it succeed. Using tools like QuitSure can make the workplace healthier and more successful, plus save the employer money over time.
FAQs
Does giving up cigarettes help people do their job better?
Yes, having stopped smoking leads to improvements in attention, energy, and task completion for most smokers, with positive effects in 7 out of 10 work measures.
Is there a resource that can help employees stop smoking?
People using the QuitSure app follow a psychological series of steps to help them quit smoking without relying on substitutes.
Can anyone who smokes use QuitSure?
Yes, no matter how much a person smokes, QuitSure can help, even if someone didn’t succeed with previous attempts to quit.
Can QuitSure be used if I don’t have a lot of willpower?
QuitSure helps users change their thinking, which leads them to stop wanting to smoke.
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