Micah Berman, lead researcher and professor at Ohio State University, and her team began the study to provide more comprehensive arguments for the employers to consider prohibiting smoking in the workplace and to reject the job applications of the smokers.
Berman told in a phone interview with NBC, "I think it's certainly relevant to the argument." The team looked at the two arguments that previous studies had and improved it by placing an actual number or cost amount.
The first argument was the higher health care costs. Most companies shoulder the health expenditures of their employees. There were previous studies that show smoking as bad both for physical and mental health leading to more stress, anxiety, depression, and even schizophrenia.
Second argument was lost productivity. Once the smoking ban got fully implemented, smokers would have to go somewhere further to smoke which may mean longer breaks. The more time they are away from work, the less productive they become due to the lost minutes.
The research team used economics to compute for the actual health care costs and absenteeism data to estimate the number of sick days, smoke breaks, and pension costs for those who die early due to the complications caused by smoking. The findings revealed the actual cost was $5,816 per year more than the non-smokers.
The average smoke break minutes are eight minutes worth $1,641.14 up to $3,077 a year. The total lost productivity amount was computed based on the wages of full-time employees which gave an amount of $26.49 an hour.
Healthcare expenses cost $2,055.77. Smokers are more vulnerable to lung disease, heart disease, various cancers and other diseases.
The team also considered the death benefit although only 21 percent of employers offer this. Their computation gave a savings amount of $10,123 for a male smoker and $383 for a woman if they hire non-smokers.
The researchers were aware that the results of their study may spark conflict with the smokers especially on the productivity part.
"Though all employees are occasionally unproductive in one way or another, research suggests that smoking status negatively impacts productivity separately and apart from lost work time due to smoking breaks and absenteeism," she said.
The study was published in the journal Tobacco Control.
