"Statistics is the plural of anecdote." Patrick Moynihan
I did a survey of my 20-person department.The five smokers had fewer sick days on average than the nonsmokers.
This is a small survey and does not adjust for the particular nonsmoker who we all know takes frequent sick days without being sick.
I do not believe, however,that the larger surveys, which purport to show that smokers are less productive, adjust for confounders either.
One smoker in our department has not taken a sick day in four years.
SH Cambridge
Stephen-
Thanks for sharing that. Even though it is obviously not a large or random sample, it demonstrates my point that employment decisions must be made on an individual basis. The wholesale removal of smokers from the potential job market for a particular workplace simply because of population-based statistics is, in fact, a form of discrimination.
I worked for a company in Pittsburgh that had a smoking lounge. I was a programmer who learned my craft at a crt with an ask try next to the keyboard in my home. I worked as an independant contractor for this company from home but was occationally called into the home office. I use cigarettes to combat adhd and can not concentrate on a project without cigarettes.
I would take my work into the break room to get it done. I was not alone, another smoker, idependant contractor, was also there.
We were brought in to do a system upgrade to a new release. We had been scheduled into the home office for a month to complete the task. We accomplished the task in 2 weeks. This in spite of a vice president who constantly changed her mind about a specific report.
I was later layed off from this position because I did not know UNIX although I could recall the software line for line in it's native language.
We accomplished this task in the midst of regular programming staff of 20. My problems with these people was they were learning Windows and had no real depth of knowledge of the products currently offered and refused to learn the basic file structures.
Employee retention in an organization with a negative view of smokers is understandable. Who wants to work in a place where they are at the back of the bus and made to feel they will never be appreciated for what they do. They will always be inferior, much the same view of high school students who develope cliques. We all want to feel a personal satisfaction in what we do and we want our comrades, on the job, to appreciate our efforts. Why spend a lifetime in the bilges of the ship.
As I tried illustrate in opening, smokers need their fix on a regular basis in order to function. We work best where our needs are recognised.
I started working in the 1960's when there was an ash tray on every desk. We normally worked from 7:30 AM to 10:00 PM each day and 5 hours on saturdays. I have never taken a sick day and have only taken 3 weeks of vacation in the last 35 years.
When I was layed off from the job in Pittsburgh I had 7 weeks of vacation due, but received only two weeks severance pay and none of the vacation time. I had been assured that my vacation time would be carried forward because I was despertly needed, but once layed off the company policy of carry overs was enforced according to company policy.
Has anyone looked at the productivity of the programer staffs that use to work in California before their smoking ban as compared to today? I know in one instance, Borland, the company went down the tubes once a company wide smoking ban was put in place. All innovation stopped and the company never has been able to catch up since. Now programmers in India are doing the programming and Microsoft wants a waver to bring in more foreign nationals in order to compete.
Smoking is legal in this country.
everyone knows people with children take the most sick days.
Great point William. It shows the absurdity of the argument in support of policies by which employers refuse to hire smokers. By the same reasoning, a policy to refuse to hire people with children would be fully justified. But such a policy would clearly be discriminatory and inappropriate. I don't see, then, how the same argument applied to smokers somehow makes for an appropriate policy.
During 25 years of professional activity as an employee, I was on sickleave for less than 10 days. But when I had a task to be accomplished I always delivered in time, even if it meant working from home or on weekends. For the past 15 years, I have been self-employed and there is no way I can take sickleave. I work usually even on evenings or weekends.
I am convinced that there is no association between smoker status and absenteeism. It is a matter of motivation, dedication, interest and loyality to the company you work for.
Dear smokers: Get used to the discrimination it's only going to get worse and there isn't a thing you can do about it. Perhaps you should join the other team?
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