Other sections of this packet have shown how businesses can improve the health of employees by taking action in the workplace to reduce tobacco use and exposure to secondhand smoke. Just as important, businesses can support efforts beyond their own walls to reduce tobacco use and improve health in the larger community, where employees and their families live, work, and play— and where the next generation of employees is growing up.

Helping your employees who smoke to quit and protecting all employees from secondhand smoke can increase the health of your workforce and your bottom line. There are several ways you can support tobacco control “inside the walls” of your business. A model workplace tobacco control program includes a set of policies, benefits and programs that will encourage employees not to use tobacco in the workplace and to quit using tobacco altogether.

Corporate leaders today are well aware that rising health care costs are one of the biggest threats to their bottom lines. What is not as well known is the significant role of smoking and other tobacco use in driving these costs. In fact, tobacco use is the leading preventable cause of death and disease in the United States. Business bears the burden of tobacco caused illness — and the resulting health care bills — among employees, family members and even retirees.