CHARLES H. LUNDQUIST COLLEGE OF BUSINESS Nov. 6, 1997 Contact Pauline Austin, (541) 346-3129); e-mail<paustin@oregon.uoregon.edu> Editors note: For copies of the paper and the study, call Jim Terborg, 541-346-3354; e-mail <jterborg@oregon.uoregon.edu> EUGENE, Ore.--Workers who smoke cigarettes have higher absenteeism, medical costs, accidents and injuries than their non-smoking colleagues, according to a professor at the University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business. In a paper released today, James Terborg, a professor of management at the Lundquist College of Business, says smokers may waste 15 minutes or more a day of scheduled work time lighting up. "In the United States, when the value of on-the-job time lost to smoking is added to the total direct and indirect costs of hiring a smoker, employers can pay as much as $3,500 per smoker per year," Terborg notes. When employers allow smoking on the job, Terborg says, property damage and depreciation increase, as do building and equipment maintenance and insurance costs. Employers can offset the cost of smokers and improve the overall health of all employees through worksite health promotion programs, including smoking cessation programs, according to the UO researcher. "These programs have been shown to produce a quit-rate conservatively estimated to average 13 percent," he adds. "Generally, worksite programs reach more smokers than similar programs offered by hospitals and clinics because they have proven to have lower drop out rates, are less costly to deliver, and provide social and environmental support for long change." The direct costs of delivering a workplace smoking cessation program is estimated to range from $100 to $1,000 per ex-smoker. "Given the high costs associated with smoking, implementation of no-smoking policies at work, combined with workplace smoking cessation programs, would appear to produce financial benefits that would greatly exceed program costs," according to Terborg. The University of Oregon's Lundquist College of Business is one of the nation's top 40 ranked undergraduate business programs. Recently the college's master of business administration program was named one of the nation's top programs for entrepreneurship by the United States Association of Small Business Entrepreneurship. -30- #F-6026/Local, OrDailies,Lcl Bus,Or,DBus,OrBus,S-BUS,Special