Workplace Wellness Comes for the Working Class

In the last days of 2019, as millions of Americans were contemplating their resolutions for the year ahead, the moving-and-storage company U-Haul set one for all of its future employees. The company announced that starting February 1, it will stop hiring people who use nicotine in the 21 states where such a prohibition is legal, including Texas, Florida, and Massachusetts. Seventeen of those states allow employers to administer drug tests for nicotine.

While a new policy for U-Haul, this move is part of a larger trend toward “workplace wellness” programs, which encourage employees to pursue dietary changes in their insistence that employees optimize their bodies and behavior on their own time. This cuts costs and, at least in theory, helps employees live healthier lives.