Opinion: cut smokers’ pay to reclaim the 40 working days a year lost to breaks
If the average smoker wastes weeks’ worth of productivity a year, why should they be paid the same as non-smokers?
It was recently reported that non-smokers at a marketing firm in Japan are being given six extra days of leave each year, because they spend more time at their desks than smokers.
We all work with smokers. Invariably, after just an hour in the office, they’ll pop off to indulge in their disgusting habit while the rest of us labour on.
An hour later, away they go again, to while away another 10 minutes. Then they come back, with that lingering, stale whiff of tobacco smoke that turns one’s stomach.
Ten minutes every hour equates to 80 minutes in an eight-hour working day. That’s more than an hour! It’s 400 minutes – or 6.6 hours – in a five-day week. Over a year, that adds up to about 345 hours, or almost 43 days. That’s well in excess of the six days being given to non-smoking employees by Piala Inc.
Maybe employers could consider paying non-smokers bigger salaries or, even better, docking smokers’ pay
The firm should be applauded for its fairness to hard-working employees, and getting the message to smokers that they are hooked on a dumb habit that’s killing not just themselves but also company time. After all, it’s unfair that smokers are able to offload work onto those with healthier lifestyles.
