Boeing Case Study
Article Highlights
- Study Title
- Boeing Case Study
"If you build it, they will come." So the saying goes, but while this may be true for some things, it's not necessarily the case for tobacco treatment programs.
Problem
Like many employers, The Boeing Company recognized that employees' tobacco usage was literally sending a portion of its profits up in smoke. The average tobacco user costs his employer more than $6,000 per year in lost productivity, time lost from work due to smoking breaks and additional sick days, and excess medical expenditures. With 150,000 employees, about 20 percent of whom use tobacco, tobacco's impact on Boeing was more than $180 million a year!
Solution
Tobacco is a powerful addiction. So while 80 percent of smokers say they would like to quit, it often takes a little extra encouragement to actually get them to sign up for an effective treatment program. Boeing adopted a "no barriers" approach that would eliminate the most common reasons employees just don't get around to signing up.
For starters, Boeing covers the entire cost of the Free & Clear® Tobacco Treatment Program for its employees as well as their spouses and dependents. (Getting all the tobacco users in a household to quit together increases the chances they'll stay quit.) Boeing also covers the cost of nicotine patches or gum for program participants.
Unlike other employee benefits (vision care, for example), including tobacco cessation on the annual recitation of coverage isn't enough. Repetition—in a variety of settings—increases the chances of catching a tobacco user at the right time with the right message that will make her pick up the phone and enroll in the program.
Boeing Wellness Health Letter, the monthly newsletter that is sent to Boeing employees' homes, regularly includes articles about the health benefits of quitting tobacco and information about how to enroll in the Free & Clear program. At work, flyers in employees' mailboxes and e-newsletters also provide enrollment information and the toll-free number to call. Boeing's on-site health clinics and fitness centers are also sources of information, as is the company's health and wellness Web site, www.boeingwellness.com.
Conclusion
As a result, Boeing employees' participation in the Free & Clear program is approaching 10 percent, with a quit rate as high as 35 percent among participants who completed an end of program survey. Recognizing that quitting tobacco is a process and that most people are not successful the first time they try, Boeing has made the Free & Clear program a lifetime benefit, meaning that employees can re-enroll as many times as they need to.
"Research shows that an investment in tobacco dependence treatment provides a greater return than any other adult treatment or prevention benefit we can offer," says Mike Brennan, manager of enterprise wellness programs. "We make it as easy as possible for employees to get information about the Free & Clear program and to enroll in the program because we know that they'll be doing the hardest work—actually quitting tobacco."