Reduce Employee Absence and Turnover with Smoke-Free Policies
According to a new report from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), smoking costs the nation $167 billion a year in healthcare costs and lost worker productivity. For more on this study, click here.
Make Your Workforce More Productive
Smokers, on average, miss 6.16 days of work per year due to sickness (including smoking-related acute and chronic conditions). Nonsmokers miss 3.86 days of work per year. Multiply the number of smokers on your workforce by 2 days of work, and you’ll find that you’re paying a lot for lost productivity. Surveys show smokers also take longer and more frequent work breaks.
Stop Grinding Up Your Money
The CDC estimates each employee that smokes costs your company $3,391 per year–including $1,760 in lost productivity and $1,623 in excess medical expenses. Wisconsin businesses lose $1.4 billion in worker productivity each year due to sickness and premature death caused by smoking. In addition, the average annual healthcare costs related to smoking in Wisconsin is $1.5 billion. All told, smoking costs Wisconsin businesses almost $3 billion a year.
Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death each year in the United States, claiming more than 440,000 lives each year, including more than 7,000 in Wisconsin. That’s more than the combined death rates for AIDS, drugs, alcohol, homicide, suicide and motor vehicle accidents, according to the CDC. Research shows the cost of employee turnover is quite high. To calculate your employee turnover expenses, click here.