Workplace health promotion: how to help employees to stop smoking
Business case

By adding information into the calculator below, we can work out the costs and savings that may arise by supporting your workforce to quit smoking. We have added some default figures into the calculator. For example, the proportion of people who smoke within the workforce has been set at 25% as this is the national average. If you know that the proportion of people who smoke among your workforce is higher or lower than 25%, you can change this figure accordingly.

Start by adding the total number of employees into the first empty box.

Total number of employees
Proportion of employees who smoke, %
Proportion of employees who smoke to receive an intervention, %
Interventions paid for by employer? (Y/N)

Guidance from NICE has outlined a number of effective ways of helping people to quit smoking. These interventions are listed below. Each intervention has different costs and success rates. To show the costs and savings that would arise if all the employees who smoke (who want to quit) receive brief advice, put 100 in the box at the top of the list.

Intervention Proportion of workforce who want to quit to receive each intervention, %
Brief advice plus self-help material plus advice for NRT
Least cost effective

Most cost effective
Nicotine patch plus pharmacist consultation
BA plus self-help material plus NRT plus specialist smoking service
Nicotine patch plus pharmacist consultation plus behavioural programme
Brief advice (BA)
Nicotine patch plus group counselling
BA plus self-help material (SHM)
Nicotine patch plus individual counselling
Bupropion plus more intensive counselling (MIC)
Bupropion plus less intensive counselling (LIC)
Nicotine patch

Employers could support their employees by offering paid leave to attend these interventions. Employers will incur costs if they choose this option. The costs have been calculated using an average hourly wage. The default value for the average hourly wage is £12.55 which is the national average. If you know the average hourly wage for your workforce is higher or lower please change this figure.

The evidence suggests that a person who smokes spends more time off sick than one that doesn’t. Some evidence suggests that on average, a person who smokes will have 33 hours off sick more per year than a non-smoker. So, by encouraging your workforce to quit smoking you can expect productivity savings to arise when they are successful. These savings occur because quitters are likely to be healthier and spend more time in work being productive. Again, we have used the average hourly wage to calculate these potential savings.

Paid leave offered by employer? (Y/N)
Average hourly wage, £
 

Results
Number of people who smoke in company
Number of quits with selected interventions

Cost of interventions incurred by employer,£
Cost of paid leave incurred by employer,£
Productivity savings,£

Total savings to employer,£


Cost of interventions incurred by NHS,£