Fuelled with the aspiration of the leaders of the company to protect the health of all the staff, more than 3,000 employees at that time positively responded to the campaign. And, the working environment of Sao Mai Group has become purely fresh for the past eight years and more than 8,000 current employees are working in a smoke-free environment. Notably, not only the workplace but also the homes of employees are smoke-free. This has become a very unique pride and culture of Sao Mai Group that cannot be found elsewhere on earth. It is evident that the willpower, unity and sharing will give us strength and creativity to make wonders.

Giving up an unworthy habit of a human being is not easy, but it must be done because it is harmful to oneself in particular and to the whole community. Smoking habit has been popular for long and it is seen as a natural inheritance of humans to date. But it is little known that it causes a critical impact on human health. Smoking kills nearly 6 million people a year. This casualty will not come to an end if the smoking habit remains common. Smoking results in many types of cancer, increase heart disease risks, myocardial infarction and cerebrovascular accident. 90 per cent of lung cancer cases in the world are caused by direct smoking and 5 per cent is caused by indirect smoking.

According to the latest WHO report, cigarettes take away US$1 trillion from the global economy a year. Yet, medical costs related to smoking-related disease diagnosis and treatment is many times more. In reality, although the tobacco industry pays much tax to national coffers, it is too little to compensate for tremendous economic loss and health damage to society caused by smoking. These costs include spending on smoking, smoking-related medical examination and treatment, loss of working capacity due to illness and premature death, loss caused by fire or damage to the working environment in particular and the living environment in general. Even cigarettes are wading into the fairy world of children and threatening the development of future generations.

 “Sao Mai Group’s men would have to spend at least VND20 billion a year buying cigarettes and additional 20 per cent of the above value on medical examination and treatment expenses if we did not launch the "Say no to smoking" campaign. Thus, Sao Mai Group’s employees have saved hundreds of billions of Vietnamese dong for corporate development for eight years. The current status of Sao Mai Group also comes from a similar approach,” a member of the Executive Board said.

- Health protected - Enhancing working productivity and efficiency

- Fresh working environment - Assuring product quality

- Higher awareness and working manner of employees in an integrating world.

- Fire and explosion prevention - Protecting human life from smoking harm

- Respect to the law

At first glance, it seems so easy to get the result, but it is absolutely opposite, as evidenced by failures in many companies and countries. Sao Mai Group was considered an exceptional case. Bringing the campaign into life and ingraining it into the mind of employees was a long way to go with a lot of sweat. At first, it was very difficult to persuade them not to smoke, even with the imposition of severe punishments. But the core was to make them aware of negative effects on their families’ incomes, health and well-being. Economic sanctions and psychological remedial measures were first applied to those with seniority, and then to lower layers of employees in a scientific and resolute manner. As a result, they quit smoking. Former smokers had their health significantly improved and had a more positive attitude at work. Being asked about how to know who are smokers and who are not, Sao Mai Group President smiled and answered that “Just look at your skin and lips, I will know whether you smoke or not.”

In many places, no smoking in working offices and factories is a very new, even strange, experience but for Sao Mai Group, it is an everyday image. Sao Mai Group - a smoke-free world has shown the discipline of employees who know to respect themselves and others. “All voluntariness starts from compulsion” is a right case at Sao Mai Group. Employees saying no to smoking began with a campaign with forceful sanctions.

Perseverance and appropriate behaviour make Sao Mai Group a pioneer in smoking prevention. The company has shaped a clean, healthy working environment and raised the livelihoods of its employees.
N.Nga

Source: vccinews.vn