Smokers to have time off to quit habit
Caroline:
April 30th, 2007
I was surprised to learn recently that businesses are being encourages by NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) to allow employees time off to quit their habit. I quite accept that smokers are generally less healthy than non-smokers and that apart from being prone to coughs and colds they are also more likely to have serious conditions such as cancer and heart-disease. There is also the question of their smoking breaks which mean that smokers work on average 30 mins less per day. It would obviously make sense for all involved if they were able to kick the nicotine habit but I can’t see it going down too well when non-smokers are expected to cover for their colleagues when they attend stop-smoking clinics or the like. It is interesting that even the director of Forest, the pro-smoking group, was against the idea.
April 30th, 2007 at 5:13 pm
This would be a great idea if their time off is paid only if they actually quit
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April 30th, 2007 at 5:21 pm
Haha that would be brilliant!
May 1st, 2007 at 1:45 pm
As the CEO of the organisation (NICE) which made the recommendations referred to by Caroline, I thought I’d make a response too. Caroline is concerned that colleagues, who don’t smoke, would need to provide cover for those who do, to enable them to take time to attend quit sessions. That’s true - and it would be an additional burden. But it’s worth remembering that smokers take, on average 8 more sick days than non-smokers - days whch have to be covered by their colleagues. If we can help them quit, those ‘extra’ sick days will reduce. And as for FOREST, the pro-smoking group, it’s perhaps unsurprising that they were unenthusiastic about measures to help people stop smoking!