FEATURED

An app for that

Moving beyond Brickbreaker and Angry Birds, smartphone
applications break new ground in benefits delivery.

BY KATHLEEN KOSTER

(CONTINUED ON PAGE 20)

ALSO INSIDE

Benefits Corner Office

Tips for writing an employee handbook

Health Care

What your onsite health clinic vendor might not be telling you

Voluntary

Vacation benefits are the original wellness plan

BY THE NUMBERS

77% of plan participants say they understand that asset allocation in target-date funds gets more conservative over time.

See page 58

APRIL 15, 2011 • VOL 25 NO 5 • EBN.BENEFITNEWS.COM

SMOKING CESSATION

Employers want employees
to own up to tobacco use
BY LYDELL C. BRIDGEFORD

Some employers are investing more time and resources to find out whether workers are tobacco-free and in the process are rewarding those who pass muster with lower health premiums or financial rewards.

To combat the high health costs associated with smoking-related diseases, employers historically have relied on implementing smoking cessation programs and instituting tobacco-free worksites and campuses. For a few, efforts now extend to firing and not hiring workers who use tobacco products.

But for the most part, companies are simply requiring workers who use tobacco products to put more money toward health premiums or excluding them from financial rewards tied to tobacco status.

“Employers typically use a voluntary system in which an employee signs an affidavit stating he or she is tobacco-free. By not signing and returning the affidavit, the worker by default is saying he or she is a tobacco user,” says LuAnn Heinen, vice president of the National Business Group on Health and director of its institute on innovation in workforce well-being.

On your honor

Companies with a tobacco surcharge allow workers to obtain the tobacco-free premium if an employee makes an attempt to quit by enrolling in the company’s smoking cessation program. Employers typically notify workers one year in advance on the decision to institute tobacco-based health premiums.

The heads-up approach allows employers some leeway to promote and expand smoking cessation benefits. And for employees who use tobacco products, the extra year affords them the oppor-

“We created a number of ways to support team members to quit the habit,” says Kathleen Boushie, director of human resources at Meridian Health, a hospital chain in New Jersey.

tunity to quit the habit before facing a tobacco surcharge.

Once a surcharge takes effect, some employers will ask workers to sign off on either a covenant or an affidavit stating they are a nontobacco-user and will not use tobacco products for the next 12 months. In some cases, the language in the agreements states the terms are subject to verification.

“It’s actually surprising how honest people are in disclosing their tobacco-use status to employers,” says Seth Serxner, a partner at Mercer. He recites a telling story in which an employer told him that several employees who enrolled in the company’s smoking cessation program had signed an affidavit saying for the next 12 months they will be tobacco-free.

“Then a couple of months into the program, they started smoking again. The employees called the benefits department to say, ‘Hey, look, I am smoking again, so add the surcharge,’” says Serxner. “Frankly, employers don’t want to get into a policing role.” He estimates that about 20% of workers are not