If you were a business owner, would you hire a smoker?

Question

Smokers have serious health issues. This leads to higher absenteeism and higher costs for their health insurance. Being addicted, they need their frequent smoke breaks, which burdens other employees who have to cover for them. Many smokers stink, even when they are not smoking, because the smoke odor gets into their hair, clothes and bodies, so they are not nice to be around.

As addicts, smokers have lost control over a part of their lives. Would you hire an out-of-control alcoholic? Or some heroin junkie who needs to shoot up every few hours? I didn't think so.

Some big employers will no longer hire smokers. The World Health Organization comes to mind. If a smoker is too weak-willed to get clean from his habit, isn't that a serious personality defect? Nicotine is controlling his life. The smoker is a loser.

So if I owned a business I would not hire a smoker. What about you?

Oh yes, they will sometimes say their smoking is a "right". FACT: It is a habit, not a right.

Answer 1

Nope. The smokers in DH's office are universally a bunch of slugs. They are always skittering off when the work gets tough b/c they "need" a smoke. Besides, they are always cold b/c they have no freaking oxygen in their blood & their vessels are all constricted, so mgmt ends up turning up the thermostat, leaving all the O(2) saturated people to stew in their own juices. Don't even get me started on the stench.

Answer 2

Here we go again. It depends on the business
and the kind of work to be done. I don't smoke
and don't drink either. There are a lot of habits
out there that bug me a lot more than those two.
A loud mouthed person who uses profanity as
if that is his ABCs and does'nt care who hears
him bothers me a lot more. If I'm working in a
large room that is ventilated then smoking
does'nt aggrevate me at all. To smell alcohol
on someones breath almost takes my breath
away. There are pros and cons for both.
Look up the records and it will show that alcohol
related accidents on the highway have killed
more people than cigaretts ever will.
Also, I have never heard of a broken home over
a pack of cigaretts.

Answer 3

I work in a commissioned sales environment, Something I have noticed, besides the smoke breaks.
The smokers out perform the non-smokers in sales and revenue every single month.
My salary is based on there volume.
Hire a smoker, lets just say " front of the line" your hired.

Answer 4

When I was stuck in corporate hell I took over managing a dept. About 25% were smokers. The 2 biggest productivity killers I ever saw were smokers feeding their addiction and Instant Messaging.

Answer 5

Oh goody! Smokers are not only single-handedly driving up health-care costs in this country (how come people have always smoked, but health care costs were contained...smoking rates are decreasing, health care costs continue to skyrocket?) Anyway, they are now ruiining the economy, too! My goodness, what next? (They kidnapped the Lindbergh baby...shhhhh...)

Answer 6

As a small business owner I would not knowingly hire a smoker.
Who needs the extra insurance costs?

Answer 7

u come on the scene 50 years latter .your mom ,dad,teacher,doctor,priest,all smoked but now u are armed with this knowledge and u spread it like a personal blanket .what u need to do is thank the same people who told u about the problem4ms.get your head out of your a## and have some compassion for those still battling this addiction

Answer 8

No I wouldn't. I work with someone who smokes and she is outside smoking every 30 minutes; I'm not kidding. I wouldn't want someone like that working for me. Plus health costs will shoot thru the roof!

Answer 9

There's a whole lot of people that need to be excluded from your company based on those criteria.

(A) The number of physicians in the U.S. is 700,000
(B) Accidental deaths caused by Physicians per year are 120,000
(C) Accidental deaths per physician is 0.171
Statistics courtesy of U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services.
Can you imagine the insurance costs if you employ a doctor? They are actually the highest health and death risk per capita.

(A) The number of gun owners in the U.S. is 80,000,000 (Yes, that's 80 million)
(B) Accidental gun deaths per year, all age groups, is 1,500
( C ) The number of accidental deaths per legal gun owner is .000188
(D) This does not include the homicides each year as a result of crime and illegal guns.
Statistics courtesy of FBI
Hmmm., something very strange about some one who owns a gun in this day and age. I would be watching them all the time in case they went nuts because of office politics and started shooting up the place. Better to just not have them around..

(A) Number of U.S. smokers is 70 million.
(B) Number of deaths per year attributed to second hand smoke is 3,000
( C ) The number of deaths per smoker that may be caused by second hand smoke is .00043
Statistic courtesy of U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention

(A) Number of licensed drivers in the U.S. is 192 million
(B) Number of accidental automobile deaths per year is 40,000.
( C ) Number of deaths per driver is .00028.
(D) Over half of these deaths are the result of drunk drivers
Bureau of Statistics
Anyone that drives a car is a real risk not to mention that over 36,000 people in California alone die each year from smog related illnesses. Would you actually hire a person who drives a car to work considering that they kill over 12 times more people each year in CA alone than smokers in all of the U.S.? Drivers will actually drive their cars 1/2 mile to work. What does that say about their will power? Besides, have you ever taken a whiff of exhaust fumes?

(A) 112,000 people per year die from obesity related illnesses.
(B) Number of deaths per human being in the U.S. is .004
Center for Disease Control and Prevention
Have you ever been around a fat person that doesn't smell with the slightest bit of effort? Statistically, obese people have more medical problems and are much more likely to miss work that a smoker. Better not hire them either. They obviuosley lack the will power to control their weight which is an obvious personality defect.

(A) 106,000 people die annually in hospitals from administered prescription drugs.
(B) Number of deaths per human being in the U.S. is .0038
National Center on Substance Abuse and Addiction
Anyone who works or has worked in a hospital is obviously suspect.

If your company is small enough, you can decide to hire only people from one religion, one race and one gender which will eliminate a whole slew of problems and possible problems. Another way to do this if your company is bigger is to break up the different departments into separate corporations of less than 50 people. That way, you don't have to worry about any equal opportunity laws.

So let's see, no doctors, no obese people, no smokers, no gun owners, no hospital workers, and no car drivers. Your business is just going to be squeeky clean and healthy.

No, I am not a smoker. This hysteria towards something that is really a small problem compared to other problems just gets tiring. It's easy because there is always some one around that says, "Eeeew, I hate that"

If the medical profession, the oil and car companies, the gun companies, and the drug companies cleaned up their acts we would all live healthier longer lives in a much more pleasnat environment.. But, those are much too hard to take on when something else is so much easier and more popular.

Answer 10

yes