Financial burden of tobacco use: an employer's perspective.

To assist in determining whether employer-sponsored smoking cessation programs can be justified on cost-effectiveness grounds, a review was performed to examine the costs imposed on employers by smoking and the extent to which employers can recover those costs through successful smoking cessation programs. The magnitude of the costs (or cost savings) imposed by employee tobacco use depends on workplace factors, including medical coverage (before and after retirement), disability and life insurance benefits, level of exposure to workplace pollutants associated with smoking-related diseases, employee turnover rate, current smoke-free area policy, smoking breaks policy, cost of providing smoking areas, and type of retirement pension plan.