Unproductivity due to smoking is costing Hertfordshire businesses millions of pounds annually.

Hertfordshire ranks ninth in the list of counties which loose the most amounts of money due to smoking related unproductivity.

While the overall amount of smokers has fallen from 19.8 per cent in 2011 to 14.9 per cent in 2017, smokers are still costing businesses extortionate amounts of money.

An investigation conducted by vaping specialist’s vapourcore.com has shown that Hertfordshire will lose a staggering £176.2m a year.

Owner of Vapourcore, Charles Bloom commented on the study which was conducted from a business point of view rather than being seen as a health issue.

He said: “Instead of redistributing wealth into the local economy and improving the experiences of consumers, companies are having to spend their excess on facilitating employees’ smoking habits.”

The loss of money can be attributed to employees taking regular smoking breaks, excess sick pay and smoking related extended leave which all create extra costs for local businesses.