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Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

independent.co.uk

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Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#21

Post by stronglikedan »

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #3

This assumes people are working just because they aren't on a smoke break. If you work on a production line in a factory, it's fairly easy to see the output level of your work. If you work in an office, there is not a simple measure. The non-smoking worker could just as easily spend the same time chatting it up around the water cooler. Physical presence does not equal working time. I wish more managers understood tha…

Not to mention the amount of problems that are solved over a cigarette. I don't know if it was placebo, or a mental jolt from the nicotine, but I've come up with many a solution on a cigarette break. I don't smoke any more (thankfully), but when I did it at work, I was usually thinking of a work problem, and thus working.

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#22

Post by jdavis703 »

musage wrote: post #13
wccrawford wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, I think it says that people feel they're working harder than smokers. So far as I can tell, there was no attempt to say they actually do work harder. The other half of this is that it incentivizes smokers to quit. This is about motivating non-smokers who are feeling de-motivated. And about helping people drop an unhealthy habit.

> Company based on 29th floor of Tokyo office block Similarly, I help people dropping the unhealthy habit of Tokyo high rise office blocks by not working there. Why mess about with symptoms when you can have the root cause?

As opposed to them working in spread out office parks, contributing to a sedentary, car-oriented lifestyle and air pollution?

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#24

Post by et2o »

leroy_masochist wrote: post #15

Given the amount of walking needed to get outside the building and the sedentary nature of their job, it's worth considering whether, on balance, the smokers at this company are actually healthier and more productive than they would be if they kicked the habit.

Definitely not. Relatively minor health benefits from standing vs. drastic health consequences from smoking.

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#25

Post by brango »

megaman22 wrote: post #11

Good. I used to work a blue-collar, industrial job, and was really tempted to buy a cheap pack of cigs, as a dummy so I could tag along and take a non-smoking break with the smokers. By the time they hoofed from wherever they were working to the designated smoking area, burned one down, and walked back, 20-30 minutes of every hour could get chewed up.

Why not just go for a non-smoking break without any pretence?

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#26

Post by mattmanser »

bryanlarsen wrote: post #5

Does the company have a culture of encouraging people to actually take those holidays? Based on my experience in Japan, nobody actually uses their holiday time, to avoid losing face at work. The only holidays people actually take are the public holidays. Luckily, they have a good number of them, including a whole week at the beginning of May.

UK's nothing like Japan, most people use all of their holiday.

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#27

Post by draw_down »

This stuff just strikes me as very petty. Something about smoking or smokers just drives people a bit crazy. Before she retired, my mom would regularly bitch to me about the smoke breaks her coworkers took. She’d say “maybe I’d like to just go outside for a little walk”. So do it then!

The smoking is bad of course, but the specific focus on it, to me, feels pretty hinky.

How about taking breaks every once in a while because you work hard, and you’re a human, not a robot? That should be ok without the passive-aggressive framing.

I dunno. Just seems a bit “off” to me.

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#28

Post by jacobush »

brango wrote: post #25
megaman22 wrote: post #11

Good. I used to work a blue-collar, industrial job, and was really tempted to buy a cheap pack of cigs, as a dummy so I could tag along and take a non-smoking break with the smokers. By the time they hoofed from wherever they were working to the designated smoking area, burned one down, and walked back, 20-30 minutes of every hour could get chewed up.

Why not just go for a non-smoking break without any pretence?

A slacker hated by both the addicts and the non using? Nah... gotta have your social support structure in place

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#29

Post by [deleted] »

mmcconnell1618 wrote: post #3

This assumes people are working just because they aren't on a smoke break. If you work on a production line in a factory, it's fairly easy to see the output level of your work. If you work in an office, there is not a simple measure. The non-smoking worker could just as easily spend the same time chatting it up around the water cooler. Physical presence does not equal working time. I wish more managers understood tha…

[deleted]

Re: Company gives non-smokers six days holiday to compensate for cigarette breaks

#30

Post by jacobush »

et2o wrote: post #24
leroy_masochist wrote: post #15

Given the amount of walking needed to get outside the building and the sedentary nature of their job, it's worth considering whether, on balance, the smokers at this company are actually healthier and more productive than they would be if they kicked the habit.

Definitely not. Relatively minor health benefits from standing vs. drastic health consequences from smoking.

Positive?
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