Kicking the habit is all in a day’s work for employees at one Truganina business.
After receiving a $1200 Healthy Workplaces grant last year, Polar Fresh Cold Chain Services introduced a 12-week program to encourage its workers to quit smoking.
Polar Fresh people and culture administrator Eva Milekovic said the program had inspired many people to butt out for good.
“We bought nicotine replacement patches and sprays for the 25 team members who started the quit smoking program,” she said.
“We also got Quit involved and encouraged those on the program to support each other, and we provided group meetings during the three shifts.
“We were very happy with the level of success. While some dropped out of the program, at the end of the 12 weeks, we had two team members who had quit smoking completely and the rest of the group was down from a pack a day to less than a pack a week,” she said.
“Now, any team member who’s ready to quit smoking can still sit down with me and look at their options.
“We offer them their first pack of nicotine replacement patches for free and give them advice on getting support from Quit and their local GP.”
Applications for the Healthy Workplaces grants are open until May 30.
Grants of up to $1000 are available for medium-sized businesses with up to 200 employees and $2000 for large businesses with more than 200 employees.
Find out more
Contact the Healthy Communities team at Wyndham City on 9742 0777 or e-mail healthycommunities@wyndham.vic.gov.au.
Healthy Together Wyndham is a joint initiative of Wyndham council and the state government and is supported by Wyndham Star Weekly.
Our special series
Click here for our special series in partnership with Healthy Together Wyndham.
