TAN Monitoring Federal Bills Including Proposed Prohibition of Predispute Arbitration Agreements

Cigarette smoking is the No. 1 cause of preventable death in the United States, and a significant contributor to higher workplace injury costs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimates nearly 70% of American adult cigarette smokers want to stop smoking, and 55% have attempted to quit smoking within the past year.

A 2013 study by the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health estimated that the average annual cost to employ a smoker was nearly $6,000 greater than the cost to employ a nonsmoker when factoring costs such as the need for more medical care, lost productivity, and more costly workers’ compensation claims. Cigarette smoking damages blood vessels and decreases oxygen levels in blood, prolonging the time it takes for wounds to heal. Additionally, smoking degrades bone density, putting smokers at higher risk for fractures and slower healing. It can also negatively interact with several medications commonly prescribed in workers’ compensation.

Although smoking rates are decreasing in the United States, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention estimated 40 million Americans smoked cigarettes in 2020, the most recent year for which statistics are available. That represents 12.5% of the U.S. population 18 years and older. Those numbers are down from 2019, when 14% of the adult American population smoked.

There are ways employers can help workers quit smoking, and lower costs. The American Cancer Society says tobacco cessation is one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce health care costs and increase productivity in the workplace. It suggests doing the following:

• Provide coverage for smoking cessation counseling.
• Provide coverage for pharmaceutical aides.
• Financially support multiple quit attempts by the smoker, if necessary.
• Offer smoking cessation information and literature through a year-round communications plan.
• Provide employee incentives to stop smoking.
• Provide initiatives or incentives to encourage physician referrals to cessation services.
• Assist physicians in systematically linking to smoking quit lines.

Three in 10 American workers surveyed recently said the current economic environment is affecting their sleep, and nearly a quarter of those surveyed report feeling distracted at work.

This study was conducted by The Harris Poll on behalf of Franklin Templeton from Oct. 17 to Oct. 27, 2022, among 1,000 employed U.S. adults. All respondents had some form of retirement savings.

Some 42% of respondents said they are highly stressed by their financial health, up from 35% last year. Seven in 10 (71%) said that it matters to them that their employer address the current economic climate.

In other significant findings, 61% of respondents feel their retirement savings are in jeopardy and now plan to retire at 65 instead of 62. Additionally, 73% of employees report that increased costs have changed the way they envision their retirement, with 58% saying they now plan to work in some fashion during their retirement, an increase of 6% from two years ago.

Two out of three workers (66%) said they want to stay put with their current employer, and 89% of workers said that they are likely to stay at their current job in the next 12 months. The survey also found evidence of the “Great Return,” as 37% of individuals who had left jobs said they were considering going back to their prior employer, and 47% said one of their colleagues came back to a job they had left in the past five years.

More information about the survey is available here.