Respondents to a survey about tobacco cessation programs in the apartment industry are evenly split on whether they offer assistance, but a growing number plan to offer programs in the coming year.
The September 2010 survey calculated responses from 47 apartment management companies representing 30,000 employees and found:
• While most companies didn’t track tobacco use in their workforce, for the 34 percent that did, their results mirrored the U.S. adult population at large with a tobacco use prevalence rate of about 21 percent;
• Just over half the respondents (53 percent) reported offering some form of tobacco assistance;
• 36 percent of those not currently offering any program elements plan to offer at least one next year;
• Of the 25 companies offering some form of tobacco cessation assistance, 36 percent have a lower insurance premium for non-tobacco users, and 76 percent provide coverage for smoking cessation drugs and/or nicotine replacement
therapy;
• None of the survey respondents said they offered other types of incentives for non-tobacco users (such as gift cards, one-time paycheck contributions, FSA contributions, or HSA/HRA contributions).
A small workgroup of HR professionals at AMLI Residential, Archstone, Milestone Management, Equity Residential, Banner Property Management, Waterton Residential and Post Properties collaborated with Lockton Companies, an employee benefits consulting firm, to develop and conduct the industry-wide survey.
You may obtain a copy of the survey results and white paper by contacting Leslie Silverman from AMLI Residential at
lsilverman@amli.com or 312/283-4885, or Ken Wexler from Lockton Companies at
ken.wexler@lockton.com or 312/669-6787.