Stop smoking enterprise sets the ball rolling in Great Britain
According to the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), several UK companies have tied up with the Department of Health to encourage their employees to quit smoking. McCain, Typhoo and Centrica are among the 285 firms to offer smoking cessation therapy to their employees.
As part of the Responsibility Deal churned out by the government, these firms will allow their staff to attend appointments in the working hours without cutting wages, says the CIPD portal, adding that the scheme is targeted at improving the public health in the country. In view of the growing cancer rates in the country, combating smoking-related health issues remains to be a major challenge to the NHS.
The organisations that have inked the deal are expecting to assert their influence over their employees to show them the merits of a healthy lifestyle at workplace, which, in turn, might help the smokers to kick the deadly habit, says the CIPD. A number of effective smoking cessation services are already available with the NHS.
Smoking at work has been a common trend in many countries. It is believed that certain chemicals that are released into the brain as an individual smokes produce short-term excitement and encourage the smoker to run through tight deadlines. Let’s hope that the initiative will help a large cross-section of smokers to quit smoking successfully and permanently.
