Company Wellness : Health Promotion Programs – Smokers Beware.

In the last few years, there’s been a rising trend for public companys – not just private corporations – to ban tobacco use. Here’s what your coworkers are doing.

What’s New in Benefits and Compensation lately surveyed 374 of our readers from both the private and public sectors to figure out their organization’s policy on allowing staff members to smoke on-site and hiring smokers in the first place. Here’s what we found –

• 11% have developed a policy of hiring only non-smokers

• 17% allow personnel to smoke offsite, but ban it on all corporation property

• 39% restrict tobacco use to designated areas outside the building

• 30% allow use of tobacco anywhere outside the building, and

•  3 percent allow tobacco use in break rooms or other indoor areas.

Public corporations get aggressive

While much of the publicity about no-hire policies for smokers centers on private organizations, it’s actually public businesss in certain states that have been the most assertive of late.

For example, Florida is among the states at the forefront of the movement. Sarasota County lately became  the third Florida county to take a no-hire stance for control health care costs.  

New hires must take a drug test that detects nicotine and sign a pledge certifying that they haven’t smoked in the past 12 months.

The ban won’t affect current workforce, but the county has undertaken smoking cessation programs aimed at employees’ wallets.

Non-smokers pay less for coverage through various incentives and the county covers the cost of participating in use of tobacco cessation programs.

The reason why Florida public employers can take these steps –  the state supreme Supreme Court has ruled that refusing to hire smokers does not break discrimination laws.

But your state laws may vary, so proceed with caution before considering similar policies.