Open Season on Smokers!

From the Desk of John Dicey, Worldwide Director, Allen Carr’s Easyway

Smokers appear to be subjected to endless bullying in a variety of different ways. Often the nagging and bullying is based on the mistaken belief that you can hassle a smoker to give up smoking. If quitting smoking was based on the success of the smoker being nagged I’m pretty sure smoking rates would be a fraction of their current scale (and I would have quit smoking years before I eventually did).

Daily Finance reports that smokers working for US department store Macy’s are being charged an extra $35 a month for health coverage. They are not alone – with giants companies such as PepsiCo and Gannett already charging employees who smoke. Daily Finance points out that some employers in the USA, Union Pacific being one, refuse to employ smokers at all.

I guess that this is understandable given that it is now accepted as fact that it costs 18% more to employ a smoker vs. a non-smoker. I think this is also a key reason that our corporate stop smoking service is so busy all over the world with employers falling over themselves to help their employees stop smoking.

We are one of the few smoking cessation organisations who offer a truly global solution to an employer’s worldwide staff smoking problem. The savings experienced by the employer are only the half of it though. When an employee receives help to quit smoking from their employer it really is appreciated as a gift for life. The former smoker immediately becomes healthier and wealthier but, for so many other reasons,HAPPIER. Stopping smoking is one of the most amazing things an individual can do – the gift of providing an easy way to stop smoking is one of the most amazing benefits any employer can bestow on an employee.

Penalizing and bullying smokers is one thing – it’s really unfair – providing smokers with the option of a proven way to stop smoking easily is an entirely different matter.

If you’d like to help your employees obtain some help to stop smoking please visit us or maybe send the link to your Human Resources Department.