Companies today are looking for more and more ways to cut costs and make more money. One of their biggest costs is the cost of health care benefits for their employees.
Because of this, many businesses are looking at how the habits of their employees, like smoking, affect their bottom line.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention say that medical care and lost work time cost employers about $3,856 per smoker per year. According to the CDC, men who smoke spend $15,800 more on medical care over their lifetimes and miss four more days of work each year than men who don't smoke. Women who smoke spend $17,500 more on medical care over their lifetimes and miss two more days of work than women who don't smoke.
Some companies won't hire people who smoke, or if they do, they'll fire them if they don't quit. Others are making rules that say employees can't smoke on or near company property and are giving them bonuses or other incentives to stop smoking.
One company says it has a unique way to help people who want to stop smoking but have tried other methods but haven't been successful.
Safer Smokes Inc. sells a smoke called Bravo that is just like a tobacco cigarette except for three important things: it doesn't have nicotine, tobacco, or the dangerous carcinogens that come from the additives in regular tobacco cigarettes. Instead of tobacco, Bravos are made with lettuce leaves that have been treated with enzymes.
Dr. Puzant Torigian, chairman and founder of Safer Smokes, said, "You give up nicotine and harmful tobacco without having to give up the physical act of smoking." "Once the nicotine leaves your system, so does the urge to smoke. You smoke your way out of the habit just like you smoked your way into it."
"The key for smokers who find it hard to give up the habit or leave their jobs is to find a way to quit that works for them," Torigian said. "Out of all the options on the market today, Bravo is the only one that lets you quit nicotine and tobacco right away while you slowly wean yourself off the habit."
