ASH Wales annual Wales Tobacco or Health Network (WTHN) Conference

“Stubbing out Smoking; Breathing new life into Workplace Wellbeing”

This year we are focussing on Workplace Wellbeing.  Dr Llinos Haf Spencer from Bangor University will present findings from 2019 report, Wellness in Work and will demonstrate the latest evidence for the return on investment of supporting a healthy workforce.  We will also hear about the challenges and opportunities around delivering a meaningful health and wellbeing programme.

20% of the workforce in Wales are still smoking.  Wales has the highest rate of sickness absence in the UK and smokers take more sick days – around 5.6 days;  smoking breaks cost businesses £2k per smoker in lost productivity ever year. 

• Employee wellbeing is a key issue that companies right across the employment spectrum are striving to address.  They are constantly adapting and looking for in work health support solutions they can invest in that will provide them with positive rewards.  More than 60% of smokers want to quit and 44% make a serious quit attempt every year.  They are far more likely to success if they quit with help.

Details and registration of the conference can be found on Eventbrite https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/stubbing-out-smoking-breathing-life-into-workplace-wellbeing-tickets-94432465045

The conference will have a smoking focus but the audience will be a mixture of employers,  frontline workers, housing, local authority and the care sector. 

The ideas and opportunities raised at this event will be fed back to senior policy makers across Wales with recommendations for future action.