October sees the annual ‘Stoptober’ campaign with its aim of encouraging smokers to give up the habit. advo hr looks at how the benefits offered by employers can help employees to give up smoking, and generally live a healthier lifestyle.
Every October there is a programme of support in place to assist smokers to quit the habit. The research shows that 28 days is all it takes and means the person is five times more likely to remain smoke free for good.
Stoptober’s annual campaign offers support in a variety of ways including a Smokefree app which enables people to track their process, see the amount of money being saved and to get daily support when required.
This campaign is now positioned within Public Health England’s (PHE) ‘One You’ programme which seeks to help adults to make changes that can have a big impact on their health now and in the future. Other programmes run by PHE include Couch to 5k, to gradually help to build fitness to run 5k in 30 minutes, Easy Meals to provide recipes of healthy means and Drink Free Days which encourages avoiding alcohol on pledge days to slowly reduce the consumption of alcohol.
Employers can actively support employees during this period and on an on-going basis through advertising campaigns such as Stoptober. The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) in their ‘Stopping smoking in the workplace’ document lists possible actions for employers to take. These include making local stop smoking support services widely available, allowing staff to attend smoking cessation services during work hours without loss of pay and if the need is great enough, to provide on-site stop smoking support where feasible.
Some employers create employee benefit fairs, in which their benefit providers and local health focused businesses, such as gyms, attend to give employees information about the benefits that are available to them. The aim is to encourage employees to take up the benefits to make positive changes to their lives and promote the benefits available to them. Events such as this may be the opportune moment to highlight local stop smoking support services.
As an employee benefits intermediary, advo arrange such events, liaising with benefit providers and clients to promote employee health in an interactive and engaging way.
If this sounds of interest and you would like to know more then please do get in touch with us.. You can email Carly Gregory of advo hr on cgregory@advo.co.uk or Jamie Tuffield who heads up the employee benefit team on jtuffield@advo.co.uk
You can find out more about Stoptober here.
