Attack on US Tobacco Users

Many of you work or have worked for an organization that recently may have adopted a tobacco use policy. The policy may have resulted in the avoidance of tobacco use on company property. I have a problem with this.

If you are working in today's America there's a 98% chance your job has stress. Maybe you are stressed trying to hold on to your job or stressed because of the responsibilities of your job. Whatever it may be there is stress.

People deal with stress differently. Some drink, some beat their love ones, and some choose to use tobacco. Have you ever thought how less stressed you were when in the middle of your day you could walk 10-15 feet to an outside shaded area and enjoy a smoke? Life was a lot easier in those days. Also, lets not overlook the fact that 99% of smokers understand the health risk involved with using tobacco products.



So why, out of the blue in some cases, have employers felt it necessary to restrict or eliminate tobacco use while at work? I have friends that are being forced to walk into unsafe alleys and thruways to have a smoke. Other friends have been threatened to be terminated if they are caught smoking on company property. Have employers forgotten that we have rights too?

The unfortunate thing is there isn't a court in the country that would take on an employer that restricts or limits tobacco use because the employer has rights also. Fair enough, but lets look at the ethical aspect of it. Imagine how much more employees would feel valued if the employer just provided them a location, way in the back, to smoke. Or if they just brought the smoking section back. It would be an amazing turnaround for employee moral.

Is that too far fetched in this employer dominating environment we all live and work in everyday? What about simple human kindness? Maybe this is what we are lacking and is the root to why we're in the situation we are in.

Employers, you'd be surprised how a little bend can result in a big return.