Thinking of quitting smoking? Here’s another reason why.
In the aftermath of the recession, productivity has become the main focus of recovering companies. In the recovery process, the cost of saving a faltering business is substantial. Businesses that are inefficiently using this money are bound to go downhill. A great amount effort must be put in by the business’ employees and executives for workplace productivity to be maximized to its fullest potential.
Smokers can pose significant barriers to workplace productivity. Why?
- On average, smokers tend to be 50% more absent from work than non-smokers.
- Workers that smoke miss five and a half more work days relative to non-smoking employees. That’s 38.5 hours not worked – more than a whole work week!
- High levels of CO2 produced by smoking promote the human body in making careless mistakes that would have otherwise been avoidable.
- Eye irritation and many other focus-breaking symptoms (such as fidgeting and distractedness) directly affect individual productivity.
Employees who smoke need to be aware that it is very likely that their habit is not only costing them but also their employer. Smokers are potentially a huge cost to their employers in terms of employee benefits and insurance. Complications brought upon by smoking, such as lung cancer, can take out large amounts of money from an employer’s pocket. This is accentuated by the fact that smokers can be a threat, not only to themselves but also to the non-smokers around them. An active smoker in the workplace adversely increases the cost to an entire workplace, making everyone pay for someone else’s addiction.
Smokers who decide to quit will greatly benefit the health and financial status of their employer companies. If smoking employees were to match the productivity and health levels of non-smoking employees, companies will be able to move out of the recession more effectively. Australia has already taken a step in the right direction. The rest of the world needs to follow suit.
