Smokers Cost Employers Thousands More Than Nonsmokers

[davidthegnome]

32. I'd be interested in a comparative analysis...

that statistically determines how much money your average smoking employee earns as opposed to your average non-smoking employee. In my experience, people who are comfortably upper middle class or wealthy tend not to smoke as much. I don't know why this is - you'd think it would be the opposite, considering how expensive they are. Visit your standard hospital, generally, smoking is no longer so popular among administrators. However, check out the nursing staff. The housekeeping staff is also likely to have more smokers.

The primary difference that the zero tolerance (for smoking on company/hospital/whatever grounds) policies are making is that smokers now have to walk a greater distance away from their workplace in order to smoke - which requires more time, which will actually cost the employer a little more money, if we're going to be specific. That is, of course, unless the breaks are limited very precisely - I find that that's rarely the case in work settings that aren't too terribly corporate or federal.

I'm curious as to what exactly this "research" is attempting to prove. Is it simply pointing out the obvious? The obvious, being, of course, that, yes, smokers cost a bit more money than non-smokers in regards to health related issues and break time - on average. So now that we have established what we already knew, what exactly is going to be done about it? Will employers start to overlook potential employees who smoke? Because, if they do, then they might start with alcohol next, or marijuana, or any other personal habits that people have varying opinions about.

What really annoys me, isn't the issue of whether or not smoking is bad for you, or more expensive for employers, of course it is.

What annoys me, is that people feel the need to make ignorant assertions about the apparent character flaws of anyone who may smoke. Even as a child, some of the anti-smoking crusaders that came to visit the school said outright that smokers were dumb, that you shouldn't be friends with anyone who smokes.

It's a great load of crap. Pretending that being a non-smoker makes one morally superior is absurdly idiotic.