Penalizing employees that smoke

There has been an increase in the number of employers that are cracking down on employees that smoke. This is due to the overwhelming healthcare costs and lost production costs caused from employees that smoke. When you have employees that smoke, they are instantly at risk for a number of different healthcare problems like lung cancer. If you are considering penalizing your employees that smoke, be prepared for some backlash that will come with your decision.

Whirlpool is just one company that actually fines their employees for smoking. The smoking employees must pay an additional $500 a year if they would like to continue receiving health insurance coverage. If an employee claims they do not smoke or use tobacco and they are caught, they can be fired. Since Whirlpool has taken a large stand against smoking, other employers are stepping up and penalizing their employees that smoke. This is a great way to offset your healthcare costs and get your employees to give up lifestyle choices that are impacting the entire office.

Penalizing your employees for smoking is a wise choice if you are being killed by the healthcare costs. Normally small business owners hurt the most from employees that have poor lifestyle choices like smoking. If you are worried about your employees that smoke and the new penalty, you can go a softer route. Instead of just penalizing them for their choice, give them some time to quit before you enforce a penalty. Give them about a year or so to give up smoking or face the penalty for smoking.

There are some employers that still don't want to charge a penalty for smoking so they opt for an alternative route. This route is to introduce a wellness program. The wellness program doesn't specifically target the smokers; it targets all the employees at the office. Everyone will be encouraged to participate and the employee that makes the greatest improvement for their health will be given a reward. The downside to wellness programs is that there is no way to track the efforts of the employee. An employee can claim to you that they have given up smoking, but you aren't with them 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to know if they have truly quit smoking. They may be able to reduce their cravings while they are at work, but they still smoke when they are at home and in the car on the way to work. The only way you can fire employees for smoking is if you catch them in a lie, like Whirlpool did.

Smoking is an addiction and people can't quit without hard work and motivation. The second they stop smoking, their bodies will begin to work to cleanse the smoke from the system within 20 minutes of their last cigarette. The blood pressure will decrease and the pulse rate will drop. After 24 hours of quitting, your chances of having a heart attack will decrease. Everything with your body starts to improve and you will start to feel better. Over time, your heart will function better and your chances of having lung disease will decrease. This all happens within a few short weeks of quitting smoking. Provide your employees with some statistics on the benefits of smoking if you want to encourage everyone to live healthier lifestyles.

Encourage a smoke-free workplace. Have all of your non-smoking employees support and encourage your smoking employees to quit smoking once and for all. If you can get everyone at the office to give up smoking, everyone will live longer, healthier lives. Quitting smoking is one of the best things you can do for yourself and for your loved ones.