Finns find hard cash motivational
Like a snowball rolling downhill, gathering snow and pace along the way, Finland is moving fast towards a ‘no-smoking’ culture.
Forklift and crane company Pekkaniska is in the vanguard of encouraging smokers to quit, and opted to take the financial incentives route by offering its employees €1,000 ($1,234) for kicking the habit for a year. A further €170 ($210) is on offer for every subsequent year – and that’s on top of footing the bill for the necessary support treatments like nicotine patches and gum.
Even if they can’t kick the habit for a whole year, once they’ve been smoke-free for three months they can still get a reward of €83 ($102) for each month.
And that’s not all – the company is going all out to encourage its employees to live a healthier lifestyle, with cash incentives of €170 ($210) every year for being teetotal or running an official marathon, and a whopping €510 ($630) for having a year with no sick leave. Compare that with the ‘fear factor’ disincentive of having employees face disciplinary procedures if they have three or more periods of absence in any one year.
Finnish Universities have made campuses smoke free, as have organisations as diverse as insurance companies, dairy producers, and a hotel chain.
So what’s in it for them? Clearly a reduction in the business problems caused by ill-health, and the costs incurred as a result – but also happier and healthier staff.
