Great American Smokeout
"Why is it OK for smokers to take breaks all the time? If I want to go outside and hang out once an hour, then I'll just take up smoking."
--Kelly Kapour on NBC-TV's "The Office"
As the owner of an office-products company, I have a special appreciation for the dysfunctional characters and situations found on "The Office." For the most part, the show is funny without, thankfully, having too much in common with ours or most other work places. But Kelly's comment about smoking breaks, in the second episode of this season, hit pretty close to home.
At The Phillips Group, we went cold turkey as of Jan. 1, 2008. We stamped out the use of tobacco products anywhere on our property, from our headquarters in Middletown to our offices throughout central Pennsylvania to our company vehicles.
What prompted the move was our continued efforts to control healthcare costs and, by extension, to encourage the wellness of our employees. To that end, our tobacco-use policy had become increasingly difficult to defend.
To comment on this letter, click on "Comments" below
On the one hand, we prohibited smoking inside our buildings, offered smoking-cessation courses and participated in the Great American Smokeout. On the other hand, we allowed twice-daily smoking breaks.
We spent a year helping to prepare our 240 employees - 10 to 15 percent of whom were smokers - for going tobacco-free. This included participating in the Great American Smokeout, which the American Cancer Society coordinates each year on the third Thursday of November.
For that one day, we didn't permit smoke breaks and encouraged smokers to use the occasion as one of the several "quit" days they probably would need to break the habit.
Our employees seem to respect the sentiment behind our going tobacco-free: that it wasn't meant as a Big Brother-type punishment but as an effort by their employer to look out for the health of its valued employees while working to contain healthcare costs.
Some of our employees quit easily; they were, in fact, "work" smokers enabled by the environment we had created. Others have had a more difficult time and have availed themselves of smoking-cessation medicines for which the company has borne the cost.
Of course, our employees can smoke outside of work if they choose. But studies suggest that the vast majority of smokers want to quit. Smoking is responsible for one in three cancer deaths, according to the American Cancer Society, and one in five deaths from all causes.
What's more, in a down economy, companies are looking for new and creative ways to contain costs. Creating a more healthful work environment - Phillips is sponsoring an employee wellness week in December - can only be a positive step in that direction.
As recent events suggest, there's no better time to quit. Pennsylvania this fall banned smoking in almost all public places and work sites, joining 32 other states and the District of Columbia in having some type of smoking prohibition.
This year's Great American Smokeout is Nov. 20. I encourage employers and employees alike to use the day as a jumping-off point toward a happier, healthier new year.
Peter Phillips
President of The Phillips Group
Middletown
Way to go!!!
As a Smoking Cessation Specialist - I say - way to go! I am a former smoker and do have to agree it is "enabling" of sorts to give employees smoke breaks. As the reigns tightened up on places I was able to smoke, I looked at it as "someone was just trying to save me from myself." The facility I work at now is in the process of going smokefree. It's gratifying to be involved in this effort after having been a two pack a day smoker for 25 years!