Train Employees How to Quit!

Every third Thursday in November is the annual Great American Smokeout, which makes this a great time for a wellness training session to help employees quit smoking. Today’s Advisor gives you a useful exercise for this training effort.

This year the Great American Smokeout is on November 20 (www.cancer.org). So on or around that date consider using the following exercise, which is targeted to all employees, with the objectives of increasing awareness of smoking hazards and emphasizing the benefits of quitting.

Instruct trainees to complete the following worksheet. Then discuss the results as a group and answer any questions with the information in the “Guidance” section that follows the questions.

Training Exercise

1. Identify three health hazards of smoking.
   
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2. List two hazardous ingredients in tobacco.
   
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3. Give two reasons why it’s hard to quit smoking.
   
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4. Name three benefits of quitting smoking.
   
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5. Calculate how much money you’ll save by not smoking. Each week you’ll save ($ per pack x # packs per day x 7):
   
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   Each month you’ll save ($ per pack x # packs per day x 30):
   
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   Each year you’ll save ($ per pack x # packs per day x 365):
   
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   In 10 years you’ll save ($ per pack x # packs per day x 365 x 10):
   
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   In 20 years you’ll save ($ per pack x # packs per day x 365 x 20):
   
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Guidance

Use the following information as you discuss this exercise with trainees.

1. Health hazards of smoking include:
   • Increased risk of serious diseases, such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke
   • Increased risk of heart attack
   • Increased risk of premature death from smoking-related disease
   • Emphysema and other respiratory problems as well as a higher risk of pneumonia
   • Damage to a fetus
   • Health risks to others who breathe secondhand smoke, especially infants and children
   • Lower bone density in women who smoke (osteoporosis)

   Smoking is also a fire hazard.

2. There are over 4,000 chemicals in cigarette smoke. Hazardous ingredients in tobacco include:
   • 250 chemicals that are known to cause cancer
   • Numerous poisons
   • Ash and tar
   • Nicotine
3. It’s hard to quit smoking because smoking is:
   • Addictive
   • A habit
   • A comfort
   • Associated with other things, called “triggers,” that make you want to smoke—for example, drinking a cup of coffee, talking on the phone, driving, taking a work break, and so on.

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4. There are many benefits of quitting smoking. Among them:
   • Heart rate and blood pressure begin to return to normal
   • Carbon monoxide levels in blood decline
   • Circulation improves
   • Less coughing
   • Improved lung function
   • Reduced risk of dying from smoking-related disease
   • Freedom from addiction
   • Setting a good example for children
   • Saving a lot of money
5. Trainees may not have stopped to consider just how much money they can save by quitting smoking. The actual calculations can be a real eye-opener. For example:
   • If an employee smokes a pack of cigarettes a day at a cost of $5 per pack, each week the employee will save $35 by not smoking.
   • In a month the employee will save about $150.
   • In a year the employee will save over $1,800.
   • In 10 years the employee will save more than $18,000.
   • And, in 20 years the savings will add up to over $35,000.

   That’s a lot of money! Ask trainees to imagine all the useful or enjoyable ways they could spend that money.

The information in today’s Advisor was adapted from BLR’s PowerPoint® training session, “Hazards of Smoking—How to Quit.”

Why It Matters

• According to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), more than 20 million Americans have died from smoking since the first surgeon general’s report was issued in 1964.
• A new surgeon general’s report concludes that cigarette smoking kills nearly half a million Americans per year.
• This tragedy costs the U.S. workforce nearly $300 billion annually in lost productivity, premature death, and direct medical expenditures.
• If you have employees who smoke, do what you can to help them quit.