Apparently smokers take more time off sick and cost the economy £1.4Bn*
Smokers miss an average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, with this absenteeism costing the UK alone £1.4bn in 2011, according to a British study.
It seems barely a day passes without some new anti-tobacco propaganda wheeled out by the puritans.
Unfortunately, there is no link in the article to the actual study and I cannot find it even on the Addiction website (besides, I have limited time today), so I haven’t analysed the methodology used nor deduced whether any fake charities were involved. Indeed, the Groan story is the only source I can find. However, the obvious question, that does not appear to have been asked is this; just how much of that absenteeism was directly related to tobacco consumption? Without that being clearly analysed, the report is worthless as correlation is not the same as causation.
The £1.4bn pounds lost in the UK due to smoking-related absenteeism was only one cost of smoking in the workplace, according to Leonardi-Bee and her colleagues. Others included productivity lost to smoking breaks and the cost of cigarette-related fire damage.
Of fer cryin’ out loud already! Not the old “smoking breaks costs the economy” canard. Workers need breaks from their work in order to remain productive and on top of their work. Whether they take a fag break or a coffee break is irrelevant – and one cannot assume that people do not indulge in work activities or discussions while smoking a cigarette or over a cup of coffee or tea. It does not cost the economy – unlike expecting people to work without taking breaks. The question is; does the work get done, not how many minutes were taken out of the day on breaks recharging the mental batteries. And just how many cigarette related fires in the workplace have there been, precisely? This is barrel scraping to the extreme, frankly.
*According to the ministry of made-up statistics.
LR, here’s the study: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.12015/abstract
At my last job, I had precisely 2 days off sick in five years – yes I am a smoker. Numerous non-smokers, however, used to call in sick once every couple of weeks.
Thanks for this. It still doesn’t tell us much, though. To get the whole document, you have to be registered with the site. Not sure I’m inclined, frankly.
From the link they seem to be jumping to a conclusion based upon correlation, not causation.
Anecdotally, Mrs L has had hardly any time off work though sickness in her career. I’ve probably had more lost time due to migraines than she has due to her roll-ups (which is zero).
smoking breaks costs the economy
Smokers miss an average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, with this absenteeism costing the UK alone £1.4bn in 2011, according to a British study.
Or
The Indoor Smoking ban causes absenteeism on average of two or three more days of work each year than non-smokers, with this absenteeism costing the UK alone £1.4bn in 2011, according to a British study. Repealing the Indoor smoking ban alone would increase productivity while reducing lost time for smoking breaks.
This is an older Canadian Study but it should give you an idea of how perverted the assumptions are in making the calculations
http://www.hc-sc.gc.ca/hc-ps/pubs/tobac-tabac/bottomline-bilan/index-eng.php
Increased absenteeism – $230
Decreased productivity – $2,175
Increased life insurance premiums – $75
Smoking area costs – $85
– The number of work days available in one year is derived as follows. From the 365 days in a calendar year, deductions are made for weekends (104), statutory holidays (10), vacation (15) and sick days (9).10 Summing these deductions results in 138 non-working days in a year. This calculation produces 227 working days. ( but earlier in the study they stated that “The average number of sick days taken by ever smokers (combines both current smokers and former smokers) is 13.5 days annually”)
– it is assumed that one-quarter of the cigarettes smoked during the course of a day (i.e., 5 cigarettes) will be consumed during working hours. With one cigarette consumed during each of two breaks and one during lunch hour, this leaves two cigarettes smoked at times that are not designated break periods.
-it is assumed that every worker is covered by an employer paid life insurance and is paid for sick days.
– average wage used for 1995 is $16.87 (yet minimum wage for 2012 range from %9.50 to $11.00)
For fucks sake… just ban smoking already. Not that that will stop anyone doing it, but hey. It’ll be illeeeegal.
Either put up or shut the fuck up.
/teh whining…it hurts…
I’d be interested in whether the study accounted for socioeconomic variables. Based solely on my own experience in business (and, accepting that as mere anecdoate) people in lower paid positions have more sick days than people higher up the food chain – irrespective of whether they smoke. Smoking is, I believe, more prevelant amongst ‘lower’ socioeconomic groups.
This is just another piece of idiocy based on assumptions, just as the percentage of elderly admissions to hospital secondary to smoking, number of house fires caused by smokers, recommended portions of fruit per day, etc. not one of those was/is/or ever will be based on actual data. (ie. never smoked? old? get admitted to hospital and you have a 60% chance of being recorded as a ‘smoking related admission’).
Funnily this is exactly what was used as an excuse to ban smoking on hospital grounds here. So we performed an actual time/motion study (nursing staff on an elderly care ward on night shifts – as the targeted group). The result? None smokers in 97% of instances insisted and took their full 1 hour break. Smokers? The average time taken was calculated as 47 minutes (made up of 3 breaks varying from 4 to 28 minutes, they were also considerably, 59%, less likely to walk away at set times when the area was busy, as long as they got a break ‘sometime’). Time off due to sickness – identical for smokers and none smokers after correcting for gender (as women were 82% more likely to take time off sick – bet you’ll never hear that in the MSM).
The result? They stopped us anyway – what a surprise. facts count for nothing in modern health management.