Benefits
Non-smoking Ireland invites organisations, companies and corporations to consider – how a health and wellbeing strategy can benefit your work environment and productivity!
Many companies are starting to understand the benefits of health and wellbeing initiatives, however, according to research by the Reward and Benefits Association (REBA), less than half of companies (45%) have a defined health and wellbeing strategy in place.
Creating a health and wellbeing strategy not only demonstrates care for employees, but it is also beneficial for your business.
One of Non-smoking Ireland’s approaches to businesses to improve business health and wellbeing is to offer them group-based support to quit smoking. Quitting smoking supports both your business and employees – simply link the health benefits to the company’s wider objectives.
Employees who smoke take more sick days, on average, than non-smokers. A smokers’ health is also generally poorer than that of a non-smoker. This means that employees who smoke are going to be taking more sick days, costing the business more, due to absenteeism, and increasing healthcare premiums due to claims and health issues.
Tangible benefits of a non-smoking workforce to a company
Those employees who smoke cost the average employer £1,800 each, every year in lost productivity. On average, smokers are absent through sickness 32 percent more than their non-smoking colleagues. Time and motion studies have found that smoke breaks taken by smokers in addition to the break times that are already granted, to all employees add up to an average of thirty minutes a day, or no less than eighteen days per smoker per year. These costs will be recovered over time, once those employees become non-smokers and improve their performance.
Smokers face early retirement at a far higher rate than non-smokers, due to the damage they have done to their health. Death rates before retirement are also significantly higher for smokers than non-smokers. This means that companies lose skills, knowledge and corporate continuity by the sickness or death of some of their most experienced staff. Providing the opportunity for those employees to become non-smokers can reduce much of those losses.
In addition, employers have to pay higher insurance premiums for every employee who smokes. The insurance companies know the risks all too well. The larger the proportion of the workforce which becomes non-smokers, the lower the insurance costs.
Intangible benefits of a smoke-free workforce
A company which provides the opportunity for its employees to become non-smokers gains significant benefits which are intangible, but
nevertheless real. A company’s actions on smoking are likely to be in harmony with its organisational objectives. Most companies have written objectives, many of which include a commitment to the personal and professional development of employees.
A non-smoking workforce also means greater job satisfaction. Most smokers know how much better off they will be, at work and off-duty, once they become non-smokers. Healthy workers with a strong sense of individual well-being enjoy higher morale and contribute to the general quality of the workplace environment.
An enhanced team spirit is created when everyone in the workplace becomes a non-smoker. Employees appreciate the company’s support in enabling them to quit smoking, and feel a greater sense of mutual support and company loyalty. People spend a lot of time at work, tend to define themselves largely by their jobs, and are influenced by the group environment of the workplace. They are more likely to be influenced by the positive encouragement to become non-smokers by their managers and co-workers. The fact that all workplaces are now smoke-free by law adds to that supportive environment.
In an increasingly competitive business world, corporate image becomes all the more vital as an intangible. A circle of smokers outside the front entrance creates a poor first impression to customers arriving at a company’s premises, particularly if the breeze blows a cloud of smoke in their faces as they reach the door. Those smokers can create noise, litter and a nuisance for neighbouring companies and residences also. A non-smoking workforce therefore enhances the company’s image and professionalism.
Increasingly, companies are becoming aware of the importance of corporate social responsibility. Providing the opportunity for the enhancement of health and well-being among employees is an example. Companies that commit to their employees’ health, present a responsible image within the workplace and in the wider community. This in turn helps to attract and maintain the best employees. A business which is seen to be proactive in supporting its workforce becomes a business where people want to work.
Reasons for implementing a corporate stop smoking programme
Most people will know colleagues and employees whose lives and health would benefit from quitting smoking. Investing in a programme to help people stop smoking gives the desirable picture, both to staff and outsiders that the company cares for the well-being of its employees.
We believe that you company’s main values that are thrived on are responsibility, integrity and respect and it’s very likely that management’s aspirations for employees’ health and safety are very high. It’s obvious that your company look after safety and well-being in the workplace, create equal opportunities and are determined to look after employees’ satisfaction!
Many companies have accepted the overwhelming evidence about the harm caused by cigarette smoke upon the health and productivity of smoking and non-smoking employees. Spurred on by the increasing worldwide litigation from non-smokers whose health has been damaged while working in a smoking environment, the obvious solution has been to simply ban smoking in the workplace. The Irish Government implemented a ban on smoking in all workplaces in March 2004.
What Is Hypnosis Therapy
It seems like there are a million ways to quit smoking, with some of them working better than others for some people. From patches to pills to counselling programs, there is no limit to the methods you could try to stop smoking.
Hypnosis therapy is a method of treatment where the patient is put into a trance-like state that is almost like being asleep. They are given suggestions by the hypnotherapist. These suggestions are intended to become subliminal messages.
Hypnotic suggestions work on the part of the brain that generates automatic thoughts. When you see something, your mind may generate an automatic reaction based on past experiences or deep-rooted tendencies. Those automatic thoughts are directly affected by hypnosis, or at least that is the goal of this type of therapy.
How It Works with Smoking
The basic principle of hypnosis treatment for smoking is to bring those unhealthy thoughts to the surface and to replace them with more positive thoughts.
When you apply hypnotherapy to quitting smoking, you introduce suggestions that smoking is bad, that it is not something you want to do and that any association with smoking is to be avoided.
The goal is to assign negative thoughts to the notion of smoking and everything related to it. The hypnotherapist implants a suggestion in your mind telling you that smoking is not something that you are interested in.
The goal is to make this suggestion pop up every time you see someone smoke or you think about smoking. New associations will be formed, and soon the mind will begin to see smoking in a negative light, regardless of past conceptions and over time, positive suggestions will become stronger.
Hypnosis won’t “make” you to stop smoking, all it really does is to reduce and eventually eliminate your cravings. For those wondering if it really works, our experience shown that it is actually one of the most successful ways to stop smoking. Many of the people who have tried it have managed to quit smoking, making for a great success rate for this method.
Hypnosis is a relatively modern way to stop smoking, and that puts it under some scrutiny. Many people are worried about any side effects or if it will really work for them.
The fact is that hypnotherapy uses natural processes to create suggestions. No drugs or chemicals are used at all, and most people respond well to it. It is equally effective for heavy or casual smokers, and requires no willpower and people need not even put on weight. It simply works and works successfully because it acts on an unconscious level.
Reward your employees
A healthy, happy workforce is the beating heart of any business. If you’re looking to offer your employees a healthcare benefit, or simply offer them a reward they will really value, you could choose group-based support to quit smoking with “Non-smoker 5-Step Restoration” of Non-smoking Ireland