Tobacco Cessation

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Create a tobacco-free workplace

Tobacco isn’t just bad for your employees’ health — it can also affect the health of your business. Creating a tobacco-free campus policy is a proven way to invest in the health of your employees and protect your bottom line. With the right resources, you can help employees kick the tobacco habit and embrace a healthy lifestyle.

DID YOU KNOW

One employee who smokes can cost you $2,056 per year in added health care costs.

— Aldana, wellsteps.com, January 2, 2020.

Take the first step to a tobacco-free workplace

With our Tobacco-Free Campus Toolkit, you get resources to make your work environment tobacco free and improve the health of your employees and your business. The full interactive toolkit is available for download below.

Due to the pandemic, some of the tips and tools provided in this kit may not align with CDC-recommended safety guidelines for COVID-19 prevention. For additional information, please visit cdc.gov.

Identify opportunities for healthy changes

What to do

Get commitment from leadership.
Recruit employees and form a tobacco-free committee that will oversee your program.
Set a kickoff date for your policy implementation.
Gather baseline data on your employees for comparison after program implementation. Some ideas:
- tobacco usage rates
- absenteeism/sick days
- employee morale and attitudes about working for your organization

Tip

Involve your legal team and any union or employee representatives early in the planning process.

Tools and resources

Find data to support your plan on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Smoking and Tobacco Use website external link.
Learn how to form your own wellness committee with our Wellness Committee Toolkit.
Create your own free surveys with SurveyMonkey external link or Google external link.
Use our employee health interest survey to gauge employee interest in wellness programs.
Have your employees with Kaiser Permanente coverage take our Total Health Assessment. external link
Employee health reports might be available to you. Contact your Kaiser Permanente representative for more information.

Introduce the program to your employees

What to do

Create your tobacco-free campus policy.
- Write your tobacco-free campus policy statement.
- Consult with legal counsel as necessary.
- Plan incentives. Consider gift cards or merchandise, as well as a group award/celebration after successfully implementing your program.
Have leadership announce your program.
- Send communication from CEO to managers, supervisors, and labor-management representatives announcing your tobacco-free program.
- Announce kickoff date to employees.
Design an environment that supports your plan.
- Identify facility needs to accommodate necessary signage.
- Make a plan for redesigning/repurposing smoking areas.
- Order or create signs that display positive tobacco-free messaging to post around campus and on doors and entrances.
Create employee communications for your tobacco-free program. Be sure to include positive, supportive messages and a variety of collateral types:
- posters/banners
- flyers
- emails
- newsletter articles
- paycheck stuffers/letters
- fact sheets/Q&As

Tools and resources

Sample tobacco-free campus policy statement
Maximize motivation by implementing your program in conjunction with a national event or holiday, like the Great American Smokeout. external link
Tobacco cessation promotional materials
kp.org/quitsmoking external link offers support information, local class and workshop schedules, and access to these tools and calculators:¹
The American Cancer Society quiz tool external link helps smokers see the impact of their habit.
Tips
- Engage employees by offering opportunities for them to get involved at different stages of implementation.
- Let employees know that you’ll be supporting their efforts as they prepare to quit tobacco.
- Include team members from across the organization on your tobacco-free committee.
- Share details about your timeline, the phasing out of designated smoking areas, and tobacco-cessation resources.
- If you have an incentive plan, be sure to mention it.

Roll out the Tobacco-free campus program

What to do

Launch your promotion and publicity campaign.
- Send frequent communications about your program to your employees.
- Promote cessation resources to your employees, their families, business colleagues, and the community.
- Educate managers about enforcing the no-tobacco policy.
- Train security employees to enforce your policy.
Kickoff your program.
- Announce program start.
- Post facility signs.
- Enforce your policy.

Tip

Help prevent relapse with ongoing communications, resources, and support.

Tools and resources

Tobacco cessation promotional materials
Kaiser Permanente’s on-site “Quit Tobacco” class is available for a fee.
As part of our healthy lifestyle programs, external link, you get tips and advice to help quit smoking.²
Wellness Coaching by Phone gives Kaiser Permanente members individualized support and step-by-step action plans to quit tobacco. Promote it with this flyer external link.
Tobacco-free program kickoff announcement

Measure your program’s success

What to do

Evaluate success (short-term)
- Gather data to compare to the baseline data you recorded at the beginning of your program.
- Get employee feedback with a follow-up survey.
- Send congratulatory messages from top-level management.
- Send a thank-you communication to employees acknowledging their role in your program’s success.
Evaluate success (long-term)
- Gather data to compare to the baseline data you recorded at the beginning of your program and the data you collected three months after your kickoff.
- Send another congratulatory message from top-level management.

Tools and resources

Create your own post-program surveys with SurveyMonkey external link or Google external link.

Tip

In addition to asking about the new policy, ask for evaluations of resources and classes, as well as any personal success stories.

Get started with the Tobacco-Free Campus Toolkit

Download the Toolkit

Additional resources

< Previous topic: Sleep Management

Next topic: Weight Management >

¹
Some classes may require a fee.
²
Healthy lifestyle programs are available to members in all regions except Washington.

Tobacco Cessation

Create a tobacco-free workplace

DID YOU KNOW

Take the first step to a tobacco-free workplace

Identify opportunities for healthy changes

Introduce the program to your employees

Roll out the Tobacco-free campus program

Measure your program’s success

Get started with the Tobacco-Free Campus Toolkit

Additional resources

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