Curious how to keep your smoking employees satisfied?
If you’re a business owner then you want happy, satisfied employees. Nothing bad comes from that and there’s many benefits. Some of those include:
- Increased productivity
- Lower turnover rates
The issue is many companies overlook this group of employees when it comes to work place policies. The common consensus is to ban smoking completely. Wrong.
Don’t have a proper smoking area? You’re asking for employee trouble
This article will explain in detail how you can create safe smoking areas that will keep your employees happy and protect your non-smoking employees as well.
What you’ll learn:
- Why Safe Smoking Areas Matter to Your Business
- The Hidden Costs of Poor Smoking Policies
- Essential Elements of Effective Smoking Areas
- Legal Requirements You Can’t Ignore
Let’s get right into it.
Why Safe Smoking Areas Matter to Your Business
There are a ton of benefits to safe smoking areas for your company. If your company hasn’t considered this approach yet, then here are three reasons why you should.
Reduce Employee Turnover
This is one of the best things you can do to retain your smoking employees.
When employees feel respected and accommodated their loyalty increases to the company. Forcing smoking employees to leave company property every time they need a smoke creates a lot of unnecessary stress and resentment.
And as we all know…
Turnover ↘ = Hiring costs ↘
Industries like construction that have some of the highest smoking rates among employees still maintain extremely high employee satisfaction scores with proper accommodations.
Companies that properly provide designated smoking areas for their employees notice immediate improvement in employee morale and workplace harmony.
Boost Productivity and Focus
Smoking breaks are like mental reset buttons.
Forcing employees to use smoking breaks when they are restricted or feel stressed about smoking locations in the company only decreases productivity. A lot of smoking employees in high stress jobs use these as an opportunity to mentally recharge and refocus.
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If your employees are comfortable and have easy access to a smoking area, they’ll take shorter, more efficient breaks.
Especially considering that businesses often provide the best cigarettes in Canada for their smoking employees.
Pro Tip: Companies that have better designated smoking areas report higher levels of satisfaction among their employees across all departments. Having non-smoking and smoking employees both feel equally considered creates a much better work environment.
Improve Overall Workplace Culture
One of the least talked about benefits of smoking areas is the overall improvement to workplace culture.
Smoking accommodations show that you respect all of your employees’ needs and in return you’ll gain more respect and loyalty from your entire team.
Especially since employees that feel their needs are being considered lead to:
- Better teamwork
- Higher job satisfaction
That’s what you call a win-win situation.
Smoking areas also help when arguments occur between non-smoking and smoking employees. If there are clear policies and smoking areas, there will be limited argument because the accommodations have been created.
The Hidden Costs of Poor Smoking Policies
Poor smoking policies can cost your company a lot of money. Most companies don’t account for the hidden costs of not having proper smoking accommodations.
Including:
- Higher employee turnover
- Decreased productivity
- Potential legal issues
- Workplace conflicts
Managing these policies and employees incorrectly is a lot of hard work itself… But what’s worse is that 20% of non-smokers report secondhand smoke exposure at workplaces that don’t have proper designated areas for smoking.
The key to a successful workplace smoking policy is to ensure there’s a complete separation between the smoking areas and the non-smoking areas. Accommodating both sides of the argument is essential.
Essential Elements of Effective Smoking Areas
Enough with the “why.” Now to the practical stuff. Here’s the exact elements that are proven to help with everything we discussed above.
If it works for other companies then it can work for yours too. Read through the elements, pick what works best for your situation and apply them. The application of an effective smoking area design is that simple.
Proper Ventilation and Separation
Location still matters the most when it comes to smoking areas.
Here’s why: Best smoking areas are those that are located in a way that minimizes impact on non-smoking employees while at the same time creating comfort for the smokers. This means that these locations need to be outside and away from building entrances and air intakes.
Many successful companies put their smoking areas 20ft or more away from doorways and windows. This creates a natural buffer zone that makes it impossible for second hand smoke to affect the non-smoking employees.
Start by looking for areas that provide natural barriers such as:
- Landscaping features
- Building corners
- Dedicated courtyards
- Covered outdoor spaces
The best companies out there have already started implementing these as we speak.
This drastically improves workplace harmony and getting approval from the local government.
Clear Signage and Boundaries
Most employers don’t realize this.
Signage isn’t only about compliance, it’s also about setting clear expectations for all employees.
You should have posted signage that clearly indicates:
- Where the smoking areas are
- Non-smoking zones
- Proper disposal
- Area Restrictions
Try to leave as much space between smoking and non-smoking areas so that everyone can easily spot what’s the appropriate zones. Make sure that your signage is compliant with local laws.
Comfortable Amenities
If there’s an easier way to increase employee satisfaction then giving your employees some basic amenities in your smoking areas is just that.
Typical smoking areas don’t do that, they focus on only bare minimum and forget about the comfort of the employees. When you provide comfortable amenities, employees feel more appreciated and are more likely to use the designated areas properly.
Comfortable smoking areas will include amenities such as:
- Weather protection (awnings or shelters)
- Seating options
- Proper waste disposal
- Adequate lighting
Weather protection is essential since it ensures that your employees will actually use the designated smoking areas year round. Waste disposal systems are also important when you’re creating a clean and professional looking smoking area.
Legal Requirements You Can’t Ignore
You have the control of how you design your smoking policies, but you must follow every local and state regulation there is. Everything that happens on your property is your responsibility.
You’re completely accountable for them all.
Ensuring you meet all smoking regulations and requirements before implementing is always the best idea for your company’s legal and employee satisfaction.
Local jurisdictions require a certain distance from building entrances, have to take into account proper ventilation requirements, and have strict signage requirements.
Successful Implementation Strategy
Creating effective smoking areas requires you to plan it out very carefully and also to get employee input.
Start with a survey to figure out employee smoking patterns. Do some research on local regulations so you can be sure to be compliant with all necessary laws.
Communicate the changes to all employees and also provide them with enough time to transition.
Balancing All Employee Needs
The key to having a satisfied workplace is to realize that by accommodating your smoking employees doesn’t mean ignoring the needs of your non-smoking employees.
It’s the opposite, modern work place policies are all about creating a work environment where all employees feel comfortable and are respected.
If you make policies that consider everyone, you’re setting yourself up to have a highly satisfied workplace with reduced conflict.
A lot of construction companies have found great success in creating well rounded smoking policies that protect everyone while maintaining high employee satisfaction scores.
Final Thoughts
You now have a full comprehensive framework for how to create safe smoking areas and increase employee satisfaction.
The truth is that you need to be smart about how you implement any smoking policies if you want to see long term results.
Don’t have the resources to implement everything at once?
Then you should try starting off with just the basic compliances and gradually add on the improvements over time and see what your employees have to say about it.
Remember… Before you even go anywhere near creating and implementing any smoking policies, make sure that you are aware of all local regulations. Also it’s always a great idea to consult with legal professionals if you have to.