A Japanese company is giving its non-smoking staff an extra six days of holiday a year to compensate for the breaks smokers get.
Piala Inc, a marketing firm, introduced the additional paid leave in September.
It comes after months of complaints from non-smokers that smokers got away with doing less work.
A spokesman for the company, Hirotaka Matsushima, 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.
CEO Takao Asuka then decided to grant his employees extra holiday to make up for the breaks his puffing staff do.
You’d think that smoking breaks don’t take up that much time.
But they do in this Tokyo-based firm which is said to operate from the 29th floor of an office building. According to staff, this can make the cig breaks can last up to 15 minutes.
For chain smokers it’s probably longer.
It’s uncertain where vapers stand amid all of this. The vape life is heralded as a healthier option to smoking, although for many it still means taking a break and heading outside the office building.
Do you think this would function well in the UK, or shall we just let the biners have a bine?
