Does the stopping of smoking increase productivity?

Question

Allen Carr, the author of numerous anti-smoking books and the founder of the Easyway Ltd. states that if one stops smoking with the Easyway technique, the quality of all aspects of his life will rise substantially.

Is there any scientific evidence proving productivity will rise in a great way?

Please help me using correctly the tags.

Answer 1

At an absolutely base level you will be more productive alive than dead, and smoking is a major factor in increasing mortality (just look at the loading applied to smokers seeking life insurance quotes). Even if it hasn't killed you, there have been a few studies that have demonstrated higher than average levels of absenteeism for employees who smoke versus non-smokers (an example).

Answer 2

From common sense, a non-smoker has more time (no need for smoking breaks), 1 less distraction when trying to work on something (the distraction of wanting to smoke), and 1 less item on their to-do list (buy more cigarettes)

There is the fitness/health aspect as well; people consider it part of productivity to run/workout (etc.), and smoking can hinder that.

There is a strong link to absenteeism (as in the article posted by Brian), here is another article I found on Scientific American: Quitting Smoking Can Boost Productivity

• Smokers take on average nearly three times as much sick leave as did non-smokers, and significantly more time off than ex-smokers as well.
• The more recently an ex-smoker had quit, the more absenteeism they still showed. So too, it took quitters 12 months to become more productive than current smokers. Past that one-year mark, though, ex-smokers were on average five percent more productive than smokers