According to the CDC, men who smoke incur about $16,000 more in lifetime medical expenses and are absent from work four days more per year than men who do not smoke. Women smokers incur about $18,000 more in expenses and are absent two more days than their non-smoking counterparts. If there is one wellness benefit that will save your company the most money, helping smoking employees become non-smokers is it. But is management likely to pay smoking employees directly as an incentive to quit? And, if so, what would it be worth?

Harold Jackson, CEO of Colorado-based medical equipment company Buffalo Supply, gave his employees a $2,500 bonus incentive for giving up tobacco. He even skipped the paperwork. “When they can look me in the eye and tell me that they haven’t smoked in 60 days and they are, in fact, a nonsmoker, then I approve their bonus,” he says. Every member of his staff who once smoked has since quit.

Read about it here:

http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/05/wellness-program.html