http://www.independent.co.uk/news/w...ix-days-holiday-cigarette-break-a8028541.html
I've been saying this for years! At my first office job it boggled my mind that smokers were entitled to seemingly unlimited smoke breaks. "They're not on break-they're smoking." This was an actual sentence someone said.
A Japanese company is granting its non-smoking staff an additional six days of holiday a year to make up for the time off smokers take for cigarette breaks.
Marketing firm Piala Inc introduced the new paid leave allowance in September after non-smokers complained they were working more than their colleagues who smoked.
Hirotaka Matsushima, a spokesman for the company, told The Telegraph: "One of our non-smoking staff put a message in the company suggestion box earlier in the year saying that smoking breaks were causing problems."
Following the suggestion, the company's CEO Takao Asuka decided to give non-smoking employees extra time off to compensate, Mr Matsushima added.
The matter has been taken seriously by the Tokyo-based company which is reportedly based on the 29th floor of an office block — making any cigarette break last at least 15 minutes, according to staff.
Mr Asuka hopes the scheme will create an incentive for the company's staff to quit smoking.
I've been saying this for years! At my first office job it boggled my mind that smokers were entitled to seemingly unlimited smoke breaks. "They're not on break-they're smoking." This was an actual sentence someone said.