You also need to think about your corporate image

Do you have employees that smoke?  If you do, you should know that your company is likely to be far less productive than other companies who are smoke free! Smokers call in sick much much more than non-smoking employees and also have lower energy levels and therefore lower productivity. If you have valued employees who are still smoking helping them to quit will not only foster a sense of loyalty to you and your company but will also motivate them and make them more productive.

As well as the illnesses and productivity problems, smokers take far more breaks than nonsmokers and tend to organize their lives around their smoking breaks rather than the tasks at hand. If you are the boss of a company and you are smoking you need to take the initiative to quit yourself before trying to get your employees to quit. Exercise has been shown to be one of the best ways of reducing stress and cigarette cravings so setting up an office gym could pay dividends by not only by producing a more relaxed workforce but also by making your employees healthy and motivated.

You also need to think about your corporate image. Research has shown that many members of the general public perceive smokers to be weak and ineffectual and this is hardly an image which you want to present to your customers. People make the decision to buy products and services very much from the way you present yourself and if you have a smoking habit you are only reducing the chances of making the sale. Even if you do not smoke in front of customers they will smell the smoke on you.

One of the best ways to get your employees to quit smoking is to give them financial incentives. As well as pointing out the obvious savings that they will gain from quitting smoking which could run into thousands of pounds every year you should also consider including a nonsmoking bonus for employees who can show that they have not smoked for say a whole year.

You might think that this is expensive but if your employees are valuable to you it's a great investment which is almost certainly likely to produce financial dividend as well as a loyal and motivated workforce.