07th February 2010 How to support quitters

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It is in our interest as employers to help our employees to stop smoking. There is the obvious reason that it is much better for the individual in terms of health to be a non-smoker than a smoker, but then for us there are absence and productivity reasons.

With smoking-related illnesses continuing to rise, sickness absence rates are starting to be impacted. By helping to support your employees to quit smoking, they will begin to see a drastic improvement in their health and also help reduce their risk of serious illness. And as the employer you will see a healthier and happier individual who is less likely to be absent through smoking-related illness.

In terms of productivity, quitting smoking not only helps improve fitness making doing those labour intensive tasks a little easier, but also if an employee succeeds in their effort to quit smoking then they will no longer require those regular smoking breaks.

You can also help support the individual by understanding the issues facing them whilst quitting. In the early stages, many ex-smokers are prone to comfort eating so, if possible, why not make water and fruit readily available. Not only will this add to any health and wellbeing strategy you have in place but it will help employees to form new good habits rather than create another bad one.

The current NHS Smokefree campaign provides smokers with everything they need to quit. Why not help promote this campaign and support your employees further by directing them to the Smokefree helpline number (0800 022 4 332) and the dedicated website (www.smokefree.nhs.uk). Perhaps include these details on notice boards, coffee machines and the company intranet. By posting them prominently you will help employees keep quitting at the front of their mind and on track for giving up.