The survey also states that, since most smokers are addicted to nicotine, quitting is hard and requires several attempts. People who stop often restart because of withdrawal symptoms like feeling irritable, angry or anxious, stress, and weight gain. A 2008 research update by Fiore MC, Jaen CR, et al. "Treating Tobacco Use and Dependence-Clinical Practice Guidelines" states that, a combination of counselling and medication in treating tobacco addiction is more effective than one approach. This, however, requires a lot of financial investment in order to achieve a tangible success. Since most employees cannot afford such financial commitments, the stepping up of employers to fund such treatment venture would help the employees treat themselves while they continue to work for the success of the business. This beneficial act allows the addicts to undergo successfully proven treatment methods without any financial burden on their meager salary, and at the same time, provide them with longer personalized counseling session that includes behavioral therapies and nicotine replacement medications such as nicotine patches, gum or lozenges. The 2012 research by Kouvonen, Anne, et al,"Implementation of work-based cessation Support activities and smoking cessation among employees: The Finnish Public Sector" also states that, …show more content…
Stress, weight gain, irritable behaviors, and anxiousness are some of the reasons as explained in the CDC’s 2001-2010 survey, why some employees might miss work or be less effective at work and a challenge to smokers' efforts to quit tobacco products. The introduction of a workplace wellness program that allows employees to take quick breaks away from difficult situations, staff rotations, and promotion of physical activities will help reduce some of the problems caused by or increased by nicotine withdrawal, which could hamper the employees’ cessation progress and in effect, destroy the goodwill of the business through the employee's display of negative behaviour. The wellness program could be incorporated into a well-designed and functioning support group where employees look out for each other. The support group could be made more effective by ensuring a periodic and consistent meeting where employees can share their thoughts and concerns on how to improve the working condition and raise morale. A subject matter expert could be invited to advise the group on best practices. Such group meetings and counseling sessions, especially, the one which involves a tobacco cessation program expects like counsellors and psychologist are very important to smokers because it helps with monitoring the side effects of treatments and deals with issues arising before it escalates. Support groups, especially those with