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This is a very good thing. It reduces the cost of the group medical benefits for all the employees. Smokers have more sick days than non-smokers. Smokers can have that odor on their clothes and it makes those with asthma and allergies in the office sick. Smokers take more breaks. No "Slippery slope", it's a positive sign of a progressive place to work.
My problem is that they don't differentiate between smokers and people who occasionally might smoke a pipe or cigar.. Or even tobacco chewers.
Then there are things like Snus.. from which there is no known cancer link.. Rarely, if ever, do you hear of the pipe/cigar smoker having lung cancer. Head/neck cancer rates are actually very low if you consider that probably 80% of all baseball players dip or chew tobacco and there've been only a handful of notable cases. (Tony Gwynn and Curt Schilling come to mind, though there have been more than that)
Are they testing whether the people are smoking crack or shooting heroin? That would about figure.. No problem smoking crack, but i'll be damned if we'll hire someone who smokes tobacco!
The 'slippery slope' part of this that I see is that I can't think of any reason they wouldn't or couldn't translate this into refusing to hire someone who is obese. Or drinks coffee.
^^^ I agree completely. How do they know if the person is a smoker? Do they have to take a blood test prior to hire? What happens if they pick up smoking after they are hired? My old company was going to charge more insurance for smokers. People were very angry, including me. We are in Kentucky, come on now! A lot of people smoke. The company was national bit has a huge presence in Kentucky. Why do overweight people not get increased rates? They are more likely to have health issues as well. Glad I'm not at that company anymore. The insurance was crappy anyway.
^^ thank you. I didn't read all the article. At my old company they said e cigs counted as well because they contain nicotine. There were tons of people who used e figs as well.
Are they testing whether the people are smoking crack or shooting heroin? That would about figure.. No problem smoking crack, but i'll be damned if we'll hire someone who smokes tobacco!
Back up and look again. Why, do you suppose, do they have prospective employees submit urine samples???
Quote:
Originally Posted by Labonte18
The 'slippery slope' part of this that I see is that I can't think of any reason they wouldn't or couldn't translate this into refusing to hire someone who is obese. Or drinks coffee.
The "obese" part is already in the pipeline and for many of the same reasons. If there is a proven link between coffee-drinking and health/attendance problems -- and I do not know either way -- then they'll be doing that as well.
The point to all of this is simple. As a population, smokers are more costly to employ (healthcare issues), and they produce less work (health-related attendance issues), than nonsmokers. Because of their increased susceptibility to upper respiratory infections (colds, flu, etc.) employees who smoke are often the cause of other employees becoming sick, etc. All of these are legitimate and easily-quantifiable business issues.
Now place this into a healthcare environment, where workers are coming into contact with patients whose immune systems are already being challenged. Or, at least, coming into contact with other healthcare workers who are in contact with these patients.
Regards,
-- Nighteyes (who smoked from 1962 until 2004 -- sometimes as much as three packs per day -- and who tried to quit five times before FINALLY being successful on the sixth. On December 30th I celebrate my tenth year...!)
Last edited by Nighteyes; 11-20-2014 at 04:21 PM..
Having worked at a leading hospital, I call tell you it's pretty common. The Cleveland Clinic did this 7 years ago. As of 2013, hospitals and healthcare systems in 9 states had stopped hiring smokers; I'm sure the number is much higher now.
^^ Congrats on quitting smoking That is a huge accomplishment. I know statistics back up that smokers are mor likely to miss work, but I did not see this in my company. We had more problems with people just not wanting to come in to work period, both smokers and non smokers.
There is no need to differentiate.
Either you use tobacco... or you don't.
Sure there is;
- a person can take a drag off a cigarette.
- a person can smoke a cigar once during some event.
- a person can smoke only when drinking.
- a person can try some chew just for the fun of it to see what it is like.
Those are some examples.
You seem to think it is an "all or nothing" affair with tobacco use, as in you think someone either uses it all the time, or does not ever use it at all, which is incorrect. There are many social engagements in which a person who never uses a tobacco product, will use one, it could be once a month, or once every ten years, but still happens.
Now in regards to this; is there some minimum level they test for? How long do these things stay in someone's system? If someone takes a puff of a cigar one week before the test, should they worry? Does secondhand smoke have the potential to trigger anything?
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That is a huge accomplishment. I know statistics back up that smokers are mor likely to miss work, but I did not see this in my company. We had more problems with people just not wanting to come in to work period, both smokers and non smokers.
