At the end of the day, is it worthwhile to ban smoking on the premises at your company?

It depends on the steps you take to support employees trying to kick the habit, finds a recent study.
The Journal of Tobacco Policy & Research found that smokers do, in fact, take more sick days than their non-smoking colleagues.

And even if the smoker is in relatively good overall health (i.e., isn’t obese, doesn’t have chronic health conditions), he or she is still likely to have higher medical costs than a comparable non-smoker over the last three years.

How does a smoking ban fit into the cost equation? If the smoker quits, health costs even out.

But if the person only refrains from smoking on the job – but continues puffing away at home – the employer sees little to no health cost decrease. The study found similar patterns for absenteeism.

Bottom line: A workplace smoking ban in combo with a smoking cessation program gets results. A smoking ban alone usually doesn’t.