Partner Article

Money 'going up in smoke'

Staff and businesses in Newcastle and North Tyneside are being encouraged to boost their bottom line by helping smokers to quit at work.

New figures from the London School of Economics (LSE) suggest that smoking is costing employers in the North East an estimated £70.3 million a year. The calculations show North East workers cost £31.9m in smoking breaks at work and £38.3m in absences due to illness.

Fresh Smoke Free North East is now urging businesses and employers to make use of the free support from the NHS to help reduce their costs and achieve a healthier and less stressed workforce.

Lesley Leathley, Internal Communications Advisor at Sage, who are already using the service, said: “The stop smoking workplace programme was very successful in our office. All of the employees that took part have still quit smoking and feel they couldn’t have done it without the support of the local stop smoking services.

“It was great for the employees to do it together as they had a good support network to encourage them.”

Ailsa Rutter, director of Fresh Smoke Free North East, said: “At a time when businesses in the North East are looking more than ever at ways to reduce costs and increase productivity, the findings provide a compelling case for employers to make use of the free support that is available from the NHS in the workplace, such as one-to-one or group support sessions with trained local NHS stop smoking advisers.”

For more information employers can call 0800 731 6418.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .