Implementing a Tobacco Free Workplace Essay

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According to the American Cancer Society, tobacco cessation continues to be one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce health care costs and increase productivity at the workplace. Organizations all over the United States are seeing a trend in smoke-free environments on company property. Smoking is directly related to lung cancer and heart disease among many other health issues, and with the risk of exposure to others via secondhand smoke, it is undoubtedly important for a program to be implemented to reduce the number of people smoking in an organization. In being the Director of Human Resources, it is my job to make sure that we have appropriate policies and programs in place to provide an inviting, safe, and healthy environment for customers and employees. With this being a company that supplies medical supplies for hospitals, we should also be concerned with setting examples to others for a healthy lifestyle. We have decided to start a program within this corporation that will help those that need assistance in their goal to quit smoking, along with encouraging those who do not smoke to provide motivation for those who do. Organizational change can be extremely difficult for employees to accept. There are often concerns about the processes and strategies that will be used to implement the health policy or program. In order for this program to be successful, we need to follow the Stage Theory of Organizational Change. By using the guideline associated with this theory, we can help our organization execute a new program to reduce the percentage of smokers in this organization and reducing the negative idea of change in our employees. The first step is to determine the problem. The problem that we are facing in our organization is that the number of employees that smoke is at a very high percentage. They are not only risking their own health, but the health of people around them. We, as an organization, need to work together to set a goal that is obtainable, and create a program that is effective in our organization to reduce the percentage of smokers in our organization. We are not the only organization dealing with this issue. There are many organizations across the country that is taking a strong stance when it comes to tobacco policies. Our next step is to take a look at some of our options and see which one would best fit our organizations. In researching several different options available, we feel like we our program needs to provide education, financial assistance, and employee incentives to those who want to quit. This system seems to prove the most effective by covering most issues surrounding the goal of smoking cessation. In order for our program to be successful, we need to determine which