ValueOptions® Launches Workplace Tobacco Cessation Initiative
Extensive Education Program Guides Employers in Helping Employees Become Tobacco-free
Norfolk, Virginia — September 7, 2005
ValueOptions announced today the launch of a comprehensive tobacco cessation initiative for corporate customers. Designed to guide employers through the development and implementation of a tobacco cessation program, the initiative provides resources and applications employers can use to initiate a stop-smoking campaign of their own.
Despite widespread publicity of the harmful effects of tobacco use, 22 percent of adult Americans continue to smoke, and many others chew or dip tobacco. While more than 70 percent of smokers want to quit, each year less than five percent of smokers are successful. It takes most smokers several attempts to permanently stop smoking. An effective workplace smoking cessation program, however, increases this rate of success to 25%.
"Successful quitting requires addressing the physical dependence on nicotine as well as the psychological and social issues that reinforce tobacco-using behaviors," notes Chuck Taylor, executive vice president of ValueOptions' Employer Solutions Division. "ValueOptions offers this kind of support for individuals and helps employers capitalize on the power of the workplace community to motivate and support employees in the quitting process."
The program provides resources and direction to ValueOptions' Employee Assistance Program (EAP) clients to help each carry out an outreach initiative in their workplace. The objective of the program is to gain understanding of the dramatic influence the workplace community can have on encouraging and supporting behavior change.
"An EAP can be a powerful tool to influence the success of a tobacco cessation program," said Rich Paul, vice president of ValueOptions' Health and Performance Solutions. "When a company removes barriers to treatment and counseling, they send a strong message to employees about the importance of quitting tobacco. For a lot of employees, quitting smoking is the most difficult thing they will ever do - it makes sense for an employer to support their workers with a program like this."
Because each smoker costs his or her employer an extra $5,606 each year in excess medical expenditures, missed work days and lost productivity, smoking cessation programs offer opportunities for immediate results. In fact, there are few preventive health interventions that are more cost-effective than tobacco cessation; benefits begin to exceed costs within two years after implementing a program. Companies can determine their own potential return on investment, by using the America's Health Insurance Plan's cost calculator at www.businesscaseroi.org.
"Quittin' Time: Helping Employees Become Tobacco-free" is available on ValueOptions' corporate Web site at www.valueoptions.com/clients/Education_Center.htm.