Tobacco Documents Online

03738990 ~ u c N t_ cn - C

SOCIAL ISSUES Companies put up the `no-smoking' sign ~t-e-s"d sl Growing numbers of cnmpanirs are payinq lheir workers to stop smoking on the job-at least 3% of all U. S, compa- nies and fi% of Canadian mmpanies. scmrdinp to the Dartnell Institute of Business Rescarch in Chicapo. Their rationalc: Smoklnp is not only physically unhcalthr for the.vorkcs hut eonomh cally unhealthy for the enmpanies- CuttinR dm.n on smokir.p "hovtv prodnctivily, imprnves worker morale, reduces fires, lowers maintenance and cleanup costs, and cuts ahsentee{sm;' sny's James R. Smith, directar of research and educatienal pro¢rams for the Group Against Smoking Pollution (ansr) in BerkeleS. Calif. Moreoveq an insurance agency has offered Gardiner Ilempel, preslJrnt of Speedcall C,urp, in Hayward, Calif., a 5' rate reduetion an his employec hcalth care uP,crape since Sperd<all's bonus plan went into efrect in 1n7,. "Thc lungcin<cr rate of smokers is six times as high zs for nonsmnkers;' says Michael W. Dmtlinq, president of Crmen Insoian<e Srrvices in San Rafae l, CaliL, the apency that mzde the offer. "The fiavre has prow n to a point where ,e simply can no Innger i4 nre iC" rmmeeiate rewards. The ~.idespresd use-and suaess-nf the financial in- ~ Y y t , SpeeCCell employee..eceive a $1 bonus lo, each week they no not smoke. Last year the payaut'rvzs $9,8268 formed smokers get a Soc-amhuur r ed after six puli-free months. Bvt Spe e call's 36 workers can ~lip on and off the centives nisas an inescapable question, wagon, receiriug $7for a nunsmnking Why should lifelonp smokers be willing ' week even if lhey failed to quallfy the to quit for what amounts to coqwrale brihrq when they did not quit for the sxke of their health' The answer appcars to lie in the immediacy of the reaard. "Dollars in your porket are apparently m re of an immediate con- cern than thinking about qettinp car.cer 20 years dowvn the line;" says Paul L. f.nveday, campai¢n director of Califor- nia's Clean Indoor Air Committee. 'Tloney talks;- s'rys Adrienne Brause of the Ne.+York City-based National lnteragency Council nn Smoking & Ilealth. "Its whal wc all react to." hloncy seems to IM talkln¢ to smokers roast Lm mnsL Cylrrtek Cmnpnter Prnl- ucLr Inc., a loa Angcles soflware houce, offers its ldU U.S. empleyees a$500 "health lnnus' to quiL smoking for a yrar. So far, 32 rvnrkrrs haie collected. At Inlermatm Inc, in Spring Lrnve, III., President James Miller "heF' his 900 emplayres up to 7100 apiece that they could not slo} oR the weed for a year. Of 64 takors, 25 wnn thc het plus their share of an extra $1.000 that Miller had set asidc to bc divirlcd among the winnnrs. At Norweroln Spnkane,Wash., nnnzmokcrs rollect $10 a month. And at Ncon Fleclric Ca+rp. in tlouslon, re- week before. Ifempe.l's payout came to $9,RY.8 last year. Many of the Prcgrams use gimmichs rather than slraightforward bonuses- For a while, Jess A. Bell, preside.nt of Bunne Bell Cosmetics Co. in Lzkewoal, Ohio, paid hea.y smokers on his exeeu- ' tive team to quit-hut required them to donate the money to charity if they bnekslid The eaecutives aRreed to stop smoking for petiods of thres months to a year, dependinp on their own vie.vs of their hardihood. Last year, F.ugene Radish, president of Aluminair Stan- dnrd Class Co. in Gnllup, N. M., aqrecd to pay omplopres who swnrr olf lobacro the amount thcy .vould ha,c spcnt on ci¢are¢es. The bill cnme Iq $1,440. Rebele._ Some of the cou.y'e biggest eompanirs ha" hecome involved in the camplun, allhnnph zeIdnm on a bonus bnsis. General Foods Corpp pald head. quarlers employces i While Plains, N. Y., part of the cost nf hreek-the-hablt dossus. The New York City hranch nf Sears, Roeb,ck & Co. rehatrd the non- smokiny clinic fee to anc emplm,ee who remaiced a nonsmoker for elx months- A few progrsms drsl in penaaics rzther than rewards. Asbestos producrr xl. ,l ~ _ Johns-Mavville Carp.. of ~ hittletaa Co'.o., r cenll,y banned snmkinp ineiL< 14 planls acrnps thu rmmtn' snd-in whnt is appsrenLly the firstcorporalr n of this kir.d-announceJ lhnt it uould no longer hlre smokurs for ils R,nCrL pcrsin work feme in ache;I.os operatlnna. The comVa- ny cited findin¢, that Imr- snns who hoin wnrk in asbestas planL anrl smokr h.u"e a B2 dnn•s hiui~cr chanee o.r yeuiug car.rer lhan nonsmoking workers (wha run highur nsk= than the gencnJ puhliri in any ca.<1. 'Cold turkey.' l7nion5 harc already fouµht the pn9ov at two plantx. At Iknl:on, Tes., an arbitrator ruled aCaiust Lrxal 1a09 of thr Internatiannl Aswciation of Machiaist., but le liil- Icrica, Mass., lhe Cnisd Stcclaorkers' L.raal 122P2 Jo:rns- u'on a re uest for sn'.oar~e a a, Aan~ille. said arbl[zator I)a rid H. Hrown, was "p!acinµ u vl uc restra m ' m 'n led lne n rvnus systmn n[ the add m smuknr. . It is onjcst for Jo'nnw Manclllr to now say tto uarrrn: ~wrkrrs who smnkc], `Cnld tnrkuy ar fnrfeit your joh: "'Che eamp:my, akich loso a appeal to federal district murt and is now considerinq further aplwals, says that smo'uurs do nnt facc inslant dismis- sal, but Lhat It uill handle each viulation nn a casa-hy'-casc basis- Not so nt hledc Nor.van Comtctics in . Los Angeles, where Chairman 3 E. Nethercutt hns ended smokinq every- where but in the hmch room, distribufd $10 qoarterly dividcnds for nanv:wkir.p, and threatened Wc Insunt firing of violazors- So fnr, only ane of 5011 emplqers haz q~dt r.nher than a rrrpl thcse lerms. Slrnledl'. Ilcmlad dnr.v not believe in such draconlan mcasures- "f don't favor tohd hans;' he say-s. "Smnkers 2re 0. K. It's just that non- smnkers are mnro fl. K." Thcy not only are :nure 0. R; appar- ently, nunsmnkers aISn rrcelvc nnex- peeted LencGlc in addltion to monry. A I Cybcrlsk's le:s Angclcs unit, where 2<I out of 4.5 employees so .a'<ed, hut only fouu currontly dn, Ile:ek C. Greqory, vice-presldent of develupment s _ prnudl;:' "I've cut eigSe minutes oR my daily 4 hmi. run. • SOCIAL ISSUES !t 6USINESS WEEN: May 29, 1978 rz