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Yesterday we published news about an online tool — created by the Center for Medicine and Public Health at Florida State University — that calculates what tobacco costs your business.

In a follow-up today, more information from FSU about benefits to businesses that actively address the issue.

As FSU notes, “The U.S. Public Health Service (USPHS) report Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence: A Clinical Practice Guideline, recommends the inclusion of tobacco cessation treatments (both pharmacotherapy and counseling) in employee health benefit packages. By adhering to the following recommendations, employers can potentially reduce the negative health and economic effects of tobacco use.” Recommendations: 

• Employers should request or select health plans that cover all effective tobacco cessation treatments and allow employees to choose their preferred approach.
• Employers should educate all employees about the availability of tobacco cessation benefits and encourage employees to use the benefits.
• Employers should consider making their workplaces tobacco free.

Importantly, the post also notes that “Information about cessation benefits should be presented in a way that is easy for employees to understand and obtain.”

Further: “Instituting workplace bans on tobacco use creates a supportive, conducive environment for smokers and other tobacco users that are trying to quit. Workplaces that are tobacco free promotes a healthy workplace and protects all employees from being exposed to the harms of secondhand smoke.”

And what are potential benefits for employers who follow these recommendations?

FSU notes that “by investing in tobacco cessation treatment benefits, employers improve employee health and reduce the significant direct and indirect cost associated with tobacco use. Paying for an employee’s tobacco cessation treatment is the single most cost-effective health insurance benefit for adults that can be provided by employers and it is considered the benefit with the most positive impact on health. Business providing tobacco cessation benefits have seen increases in the number of tobacco users willing to get treatment and decreases in rates of tobacco use among employees.”

“Furthermore, over time, tobacco cessation benefits generate financial returns for employers in:”

• Reduced health care costs
• Reduced absenteeism
• Increased on-the-job productivity
• Reduced life insurance costs

There are even Immediate benefits for employers, including:

• Increases in employee productivity
• Reductions in smoking-attributed neonatal health care costs
• Employers who provide a smoke-free workplace may also realize savings on fire insurance and costs related to ventilation services and property repair and upkeep