A smokeless zone
Canary Wharf Magazine, August 2007
England became smoke-free on 1 July - and employers in the corporate sector are using clever thinking to help maximise productivity, whilst observing the new legislation.
By introducing an effective support programme, including hypnotherapy, for their smoking employees, larger companies are reaping benefits way above the financial outlay. As Richard Reid, a qualified hypnotherapist with leading corporate wellbeing company Pinnacle Proactive, comments: “Few employers in the corporate market can afford to resist the attraction of reduced absenteeism, increased productivity and greater profit margins.” Pinnacle Proactive is quickly gaining credibility amongst the top bracket City companies for its smoking cessation programmes, aimed at helping employers retain their existing staff and attract a higher calibre of new employees – whilst increasing the corporate ‘caring’ image.
A 2 hour seminar can accommodate 10 employees – with full aftersession support. “When a company adopts such a programme,” says Richard, “they are, in effect, demonstrating a supportive attitude to the welfare of all the employees, not simply the smokers.”
This is because smokers pose a health threat to their non-smoking colleagues in more ways than just passive inhalation, as employers are increasingly beginning to discover. “The number of days lost each year due to smoke-related illness amounts to a staggering 34 million – double the absentee rate of nonsmokers,” comments Richard. “Add to this the strain on the depleted work-force, struggling to maintain normal output, lowered morale and resentment, extra sick-pay and loss of productivity – and companies begin to see the real effect.”
This may not be all, when companies now have to maintain designated smoking areas and account for an average of 40 minutes per smoker per day in lost time when they nip off for smoke breaks. This alone could add up to over a whole month per annum of lost time.
Often, it is not the addiction to nicotine that causes the main problem for those returning to cigarettes but simply that they have never overcome the ‘habit’ of being a smoker, lodged as it is in the subconscious. It takes only a moment of stress or weakness for a smoker to give in to the constant desire for a cigarette - and light up. Quite simply, hypnosis allows the habit of being a smoker to be replaced with the habit of being a non-smoker, by strengthening the desire and motivation to stop smoking. “Without the implementation of a realistic support programme,” adds Richard, “less than 10% of employees are likely to quit smoking on a long term basis.”
A smoking cessation programme involving hypnosis – a therapy with the highest recorded success rate so far – offers an ideal foundation for employers wishing to help their employees give up the habit. A group seminar can be followed by individual sessions, helping anyone in difficulty cope with the change. Ongoing telephone and e-mail support and progress checks at regular intervals are also part of the corporate package.
Can your company afford not to be a truly smoke-free zone?
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