MORE FIRMS ARE NO LONGER HIRING SMOKERS
One can see why a global health agency would do as much as possible to stamp out tobacco, a leading cause of preventable death that kills more than 8 million people worldwide each year. But what about a moving company?
In the US last year, the U-Haul moving and storage company became one of the first major groups in its sector to declare it would no longer hire “nicotine users”.
The business employs more than 30,000 people in the US and Canada, and said the new policy was part of an effort to promote a culture of wellness, “with the goal of helping our Team Members on their health journey”.
The health journeys are only taking place in the 21 US states that allow such a hiring ban, and U-Haul is offering current staff help to quit.
But considering that smoking is an addiction that overwhelmingly afflicts the poor and disadvantaged, even some anti-smoking campaigners feel queasy about such measures.
“In the old days everyone smoked,” says Deborah Arnott, chief executive of the UK’s Action on Smoking and Health charity.
That has changed, she adds, and blocking poorer or less educated people from work because they smoke “doesn’t seem right or fair”.
Better for bosses to help staff to quit, rather than bully them or refuse to hire them. I agree.
Smoking is a scourge and the sooner it ends the better. But when it comes to stamping it out at work, employers should tread very carefully indeed.
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