When you're recruiting top talent, there's a wide range of qualifications you likely search for in a candidate. This includes obvious elements such as education and previous experience but also extends to other facets like background checks.
One of the more uncommon things employers look at is the health choices potential workers make. Specifically, many businesses are starting to wonder whether they should hire smokers. This is partially motivated by costs associated with group health insurance plans. According to the New England Journal of Medicine, smokers "cost employers several thousand dollars more each year than nonsmokers in health care expenses and lost productivity," circumstances that most companies want to avoid completely.
The medical expenses are somewhat simple to figure out because smoking can cause serious health problems. As a result, employers will be on the hook for high insurance charges. The "lost productivity" is a bit trickier to pin down, but it can likely be attributed to smoke breaks. After all, if an employee goes outside for 10 minutes every hour for a cigarette, he or she will miss a sizeable chunk of a shift. That's before counting the lunch break as well.
The Los Angeles Times points out that "no smokers" policies are motivated by other ideals beyond cost savings and enhanced productivity. First, these hiring strategies reinforce the idea that smoking is unhealthy and poses significant risks to everyone. Second, the hope is that some smokers will be motivated to kick the habit so that they'll be eligible for great jobs.
However, there's concern that the latter objective is unobtainable. Smoking is an addiction, a disease that people have no control over. As a result, they might be disqualified from positions just because they have a genetic predisposition to a specific behavior.
What's more, not giving smokers a fair shake is an illegal workforce management practice in some states. HR Morning explains that smokers are protected in 29 states, including California and New York, and Washington, D.C. Employers based in other states don't have to worry about any issues because of the lack of state and federal oversight for smoking equality.
Basically, if you're in one of the 29 states that ban this practice, you have to give smokers consideration and can only disqualify them based on their professional merits. In the other 21, however, you're free to determine whether you want staff members who need to leave the office every hour for a cigarette.
If you want to create a smoking policy, the American Cancer Society has a model you can use. It can be adapted as necessary, but if your staff has a union, you should work with representatives because employee health and safety is a union matter.