Smoking leads to more sick time at work!

The International Herald Tribune article entitled “Study finds difference in smokers’ sick time” [by Nicholas Bakalar] made for a solemn read for smokers…and businesses (if not HR departments). The study of 14,000 Swedish workers determined that smokers would take off, on average, nearly 8 days more than non-smokers in sick leave, and this study netted out the impact of the smokers’ general health as well as the effect that smokers tend to have more stressful and physical jobs. The study, performed by Petter Lundborg, comes on top of the evident loss of productivity related to minutes, if not hour(s), spent actually smoking–all the more so now that smokers must go outside each time.