TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Helping Employees Quit Smoking Is Smart Business

ADVERTISEMENT

By KENNETH A. GLOVER

Published: November 16, 2007

Updated: 11/15/2007 06:33 pm

The decision to quit smoking is one of the hardest challenges one can tackle because nicotine addiction is a chronic, relapsing medical condition - not simply a lifestyle choice.

Each November, hundreds of thousands of smokers resolve to kick nicotine out of their lives. While we should applaud smokers each time they try to quit, what happens the day after a smoker decides to put out the last cigarette? It takes more than a day to break this addiction; the average smoker will try to quit six to nine times during their lifetime.

Smokers understand the health benefits they would gain from quitting. It's how to quit that too often trips them up. Setbacks should be expected, and like learning to ride a bike, sometimes you fall off. When that happens, you get back on and try again until you succeed. That's what it takes for smokers to break their nicotine addiction.

At CSX Transportation, our attitude is "hate smoking by helping the smoker." We are working to reduce health care costs and improve productivity by helping employees and their spouses quit smoking through multiple physician visits, medication and counseling opportunities. CSX also offers its employees comprehensive smoking cessation benefits as recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Our health and wellness program offers each participant in our nicotine cessation program with an initial reimbursement upon entering the program. Participants are eligible to receive the initial reimbursement twice a year with a maximum of six lifetime attempts. Once they succeed in quitting, the participant receives a final reimbursement.

Our role in this partnership is to provide support, incentives and encouragement. Through this effort, we have helped 50 percent of CSX participants to quit. It's been a win for employees and a win for our company. While protecting the health of workers and their families, the effort is also helping to curb our company's health care costs while improving overall productivity.

We hope that more companies will recognize that this approach makes sense for their bottom line and decide to provide this kind of health coverage to employees. From public employers like the State of Florida and large companies like CSX to the smallest businesses, we encourage all employers to join this effort. We believe every employer can enjoy the results we're seeing at CSX if they take steps to make health care coverage for smoking cessation a standard benefit.

It will take more than one day to make this happen. But helping employees who smoke become smoke-free is not only good for employee wellness; it's good for business, too.

Kenneth A. Glover is director of health & wellness at CSX Transportation.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT