How Wisconsin's smoke-free law can help your company

How Wisconsin’s smoke-free law can help your company reduce costs, increase productivity and improve health Brian D. Harrison, MD

Is your company culture finally ready to rise from the ashes?

Complying with the law is simple but don’t stop there!
Add language to HR Policies
Place signs
Inform all employees
Give supervisors guidelines for
Policy implementation
Conflict resolution
Referral

DON’T THINK PROBLEM! THINK OPPORTUNITY!

Here’s the burden your organization has borne:
Excess medical costs
Employees
Who smoke
Who breath ETS
Dependents
Who smoke
Who breath ETS

And you’ve been paying for:
Productivity loss
Absence
Presenteeism
Damage to facilities
Smoke
Fire risk

Cost of smoking to employer
$3,391 per smoker per year total (CDC, MMWR 2002;51(14):300-303)
Average PMPM health insurance cost (ACS, 2004)
Smoker $1,145
Nonsmoker $762

Tobacco-related excess medical costs adding to the claims you pay
Excess equals 10-25% of annual claims depending on your prevalence (Source: Javitz et al, "Financial burden of tobacco Use: an employer's perspective", Clinics in Occ & Env Med , 2006, 5(1) 9-21)

Tobacco-related excess absence costs Adding to your cost of doing business
Estimate three days excess absence per tobacco user
To monetize, multiply the total excess by the average daily wage of your company

Tobacco related lost productive time while at work Wasted wages
Smoking rituals: 1% of wages paid to the percent who smoke. Estimate as total employee wages x 0.01 x smoking prevalence
Presenteeism: 2.5% of wages paid to the percent who smoke. Estimate as total employee wages x 0.025 x smoking prevalence
Together, 3.5% of wages of smokers

“ Our corporate tobacco burden” By typical 1,000 employee work organization
Prevalence: 20% of employees
200 employees in our 1000 person workforce
Excess medical costs: 15% of total
$450,000 of our annual $3 million health plan cost
Excess absence costs: 3 extra days per smoker year
3 days x $120/day average wage x 200 smokers = $72,000
Excess lost productive time from rituals (1%) and presenteeism (2.5%) of the wages paid to smokers (3.5% total):
$28,800 ave. annual wage x 200 smokers x 3.5% = $201,600
TOTAL = $723,600 PER YEAR

Now, the opportunity: benefits of smoke-free workplaces
Employer wins with:
Cigarette consumption dropping 29%!
15% of smokers quit- the rest smoke 12% less (Glantz, 2004)
Reduced impact of ETS on non-smokers
Lower medical costs- higher productivity as smokers quit or smoke less
Maintenance costs decline, fire risk decreases

Benefits of smoke-free workplaces
Employee wins with:
Clear, consistent policy
Safe, healthy environment
Accommodation of ETS-sensitive health problems
Support for smokers who are trying to quit

Smoke-free workplace meets the needs of different types of people
Contemplative smokers: supportive workplace
Pre-contemplative smokers: motivation
Former smokers: relapse prevention
Nonsmokers: ETS protection

Why hadn’t it happened already?
Employees have wanted it
90% of nonsmokers
40% of smokers (about the same number as will make a quit attempt within the year)
Unions usually agree or are neutral
Customers have looked for it
But the culture wasn’t ready for it

Now We Have a SMOKE FREE WORKPLACE LAW You Need Tobacco Free Company Cult ure

Incorrect corporate culture regarding tobacco use
It’s a personal right, an individual choice
It’s cool and sophisticated and shows independent thinking
“ All things in moderation.” The best of both worlds is to smoke now and then
It’s a normal part of growing up and is a rite of passage
Tobacco helps socializing, recreation, work breaks and enjoying life in general
Tobacco is part of some people’s identity
Taxes paid by tobacco users support society

Reality-based corporate culture
Every member of this organization is an important and valuable human being; there are no disposable people
Ours is a healthy work organization, committed to the safety, health and well-being of each of us individually and all of us together
Tobacco use is an unhealthy addiction, promoted by those who stand to gain financially from it
Every tobacco user in our organization is a valued and honored member, whom we all support—We will assist them when and if they choose to free themselves from tobacco

Reality-based corporate culture continued…
Every ex-tobacco user in our organization is a Tobacco Free Hero, and an essential mentor and role model for others
No one wants their children to become tobacco users; the need to be at work cannot be allowed to subtract from that obligation

But, the smoke-free law won’t fix:
Smoking at entrances
Smoking underneath company sign
Smoking in cars in company parking lot
Smokeless and spit tobacco use
On company grounds
In company vehicles
Indoors
Electronic cigarettes

The smoke-free workplace law may not help:
Tobacco-using employees who cannot stop or who relapse
Non-smoking employees exposed to ETS at home from family members who smoke
Family members who cannot quit
Non-smoking family members exposed to ETS at home from employee who still smokes
Children who remain at risk for:
ETS related health effects
Initiation of tobacco use

Prepare to be confronted by users of the electronic cigarette

So why ban e-cigarettes? Not intended for use in smoking cessation or for any Therapeutic use

Sample tobacco policy
"Because the tobacco-free policy is intended to promote our culture of health and safety, non-therapeutic nicotine delivery devices and products are not allowed on the premises. Only nicotine products that have FDA approval for treatment of tobacco addiction may be used."

Fewer people still smoke, but those who do are more likely to be heavy smokers

Will you be paying me later? Corporate tobacco targets your future employees!
80% of adult smokers start before they enter the workforce
Every day, 4,000 children under 18 try their first cigarette
Half will become daily smokers (2,000)
Half of them won’t be able to quit (1,000)
Half of those will eventually develop a chronic smoking related illness (500)
Employer-purchased health care will pay for most of the cost of that illness (64.1%, US Census 2001 )

What are your kids watching in movies?
Tobacco use occurs frequently, but it takes up little screen time
Removing it would affect only 5% of the movie
Cigarette brands appear often
Increasingly endorsed by actors
The most highly advertised brands account for most brand appearances (advertising motive)

The problem
Smoking in the movies can more than triple the rate of smoking among adolescents
Responsible for 52% of starters
After controlling for parent and sibling smoking, age, gender, etc.
Stronger effect than cigarette advertising
1,070 kids start a day as a result of smoking in movies
340 will die prematurely as a resu lt.

Medical savings in < 1 year after tobacco cessation
TAKE all maternal and newborn costs (to 6 months)
TIMES estimated smoking prevalence (such as 20%)
TIMES proportion reduced by smoking cessation which is 21%
This is the potential savings, or “opportunity” in the first year

Medical savings in 2-10 years of tobacco cessation
TAKE total health care costs
TIMES tobacco-related proportion, which is:
10% if prevalence is low (say, less than 15% of employees) OR
10-25% if prevalence is high (say, 15-30%)
Because this takes about 10 years to be abolished, figure about 10% decline per year
This is the potential annual savings, or “opportunity”

Absenteeism savings after tobacco cessation
Modifiable in 1-2 ½ years:
25% of excess is reduced
Modifiable in 2 ½ - 5 years:
75% of excess has been reduced
In either case, reduction of excess absence happens more rapidly in women than men
This is the potential annual savings, or “opportunity”

Productivity Savings After Tobacco Cessation
Time lost due to rituals: modifiable immediately after tobacco cessation
Time lost due to presenteeism: improves at same rate as absenteeism (gradually over 5 years)

This won’t happen if you have:
A company culture of tobacco acceptance
A company culture that doesn’t tell employees you value them and their families

Affinity Occupational Health can help
For more information on setting up a tobacco-free environment at your company, contact Affinity Occupational Health, 1-800-541-0351

How Wisconsin's smoke-free law can help your company

by Affinity Health System on Jul 13, 2010

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How Wisconsin’s smoke-free law can help your company — Presentation Transcript