The company has gradually been restricting smoking in the workplace for more than twenty years; the first bans applied to all indoor spaces, later followed by certain outdoor areas. After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, ŠKODA AUTO implemented more than 80 measures to prevent the spread of the disease, including a company-wide no-smoking rule.
Effective as of today, designated smoking areas have been abolished across all ŠKODA AUTO sites. The measures taken to create a smoke-free company have been developed in collaboration with the KOVO trade union, with the goal of making the working environment more pleasant for all employees, most of whom do not smoke and ensuring maximum employee health protection. The no-smoking rule applies across all plants and sites in the Czech Republic; the brand’s Indian-based plants in Pune and Aurangabad are already smoke-free.
To coincide with its transition to a non-smoking company, ŠKODA AUTO has prepared detailed information for employees who decide to quit smoking. Anyone interested can find clear and concise information on the risks of smoking both for smokers themselves and those around them. Doctors and cessation experts agree that quitting smoking is beneficial to human health at any age.
ŠKODA AUTO has long been supporting employees who decide to quit smoking through its Lungs Matter programme, which includes nicotine replacement therapies and professional counselling. ŠKODA AUTO bears the costs of such initiatives along with health insurers in particular the Škoda Employee Insurance (Zaměstnanecká pojišťovna Škoda).