People who smoke regularly often lull themselves into a false perception of wellbeing, with 42% believing that they are still healthy despite their habit.
Research from employee engagement company ORC International has revealed that just 17% of smokers concede that they may be unhealthy or very unhealthy as a result.
The poll of more than 1,000 working-age Britons found that just 12% considered themselves to be unhealthy or very unhealthy, despite the fact that nearly a quarter regularly smoked and 41% drank on a regular basis.
Sign up to our weekly round-up of HR news and guidance
Receive the Personnel Today Direct e-newsletter every Wednesday
Nearly four out of 10 described themselves as overweight, 60% did fewer than three hours of exercise per week and 27% did no exercise at all, yet also said that they were healthy or very healthy.
ORC has also developed a new “Healthy Workplace” survey tool, which is due to be launched this month. It is designed to enable organisations to gather insights into the state of wellbeing in their workplace and to implement wellbeing programmes.