A company in Japan has taken a creative approach to motivating its employees to quit smoking. Piala Inc., a Tokyo-based organization, is giving its non-smoking staff six extra days of vacation per year. Introduced in September, this new policy is meant to compensate for puffing-related breaks, which are said to consume about 15 minutes each.
“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,” Hirotaka Matsushima, a spokesman for the company, told The Telegraph. “Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving nonsmokers some extra time off to compensate.”
The company’s head office is on the 29th floor of an office block in the Ebisu district of Tokyo. Anyone wanting a cigarette had to go to the basement, taking around 15 minutes for each trip.
At least 30 of the company’s 120 employees have already taken advantage of the perk and taken extra time off since the changes have been made. According to the company, the scheme has also encouraged at least four people to kick the habit.
“I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion,” Piala Inc CEO Takao Asuka told Kyodo News. The World Health Organisation reports that 18.2 percent of Japanese adults smoke (the figure is higher among males and older generations). Do you think non-smokers should get more paid leave than smokers? Or is that unfair to those who smoke? Let us know in the comments.
More info: piala.co.jp | Facebook
Piala Inc. head office is on the 29th floor, so anyone wanting a cigarette has to go to the basement, taking around 15 minutes for each trip
Image credits: Getty Images
“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”
Image credits: BEHROUZ MEHRI
“Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving nonsmokers some extra time off to compensate”
Image credits: Pixabay
“I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion” Piala Inc. CEO Takao Asuka said
Image credits: Piala
At least 30 of the company’s 120 employees have already taken advantage of the perk and taken extra time off since the changes have been made
Image credits: Piala
The scheme has also encouraged at least four people to kick the habit
Image credits: Piala
Some people agree non-smoking employees should get more paid leave
Others think it’s unfair to those who smoke
What do you think?
It's their company so their rules. Don't know if there are many companies that allow people to take (smoke)breaks whenever they want to though? A lot of companies that I've worked at or know, just have set break-times (except for bathroombreaks, if you gotta go, you gotta go :P ). Everyone gets the same amount of time to eat, smoke,... etc.
Wow, I wish I worked where you work. At my office the smokers go outside every hour for 15 minutes. I tried doing the same thing and was told I had to go back to work, I was wasting time. Then at lunchtime the smokers eat their lunch, take the allotted amount of time, and then they head out for a 15 minute smoke. Really, seriously pisses me off.
maybe you're a very small company of people with not many smokers, but overall smokers get more breaks from work.
If the managers smoke, they tend to be more permissive and less in control of time budgeting for their fellow smokers.
Worked at different size companies (one had 10 employees, other had +500, current has about 100,... with a lot of smokers) and they all have set break-times, noone was allowed to just walk out to have a break. Can go for a quick bathroombreak or to get some water but that's it. Guess it depends on the company, what kind of rules they have.
I have never worked at a company that allows employees to take more breaks just to smoke.
True!I smoke and i never took a break "for smocking".I live in france so we do have breaks, one morning one afternoon and a big one to twelve to 14 or a bit less.Totally good for smockers.I see in this subject many people are brainless and stuck to their way of dealing with smokers.They are extremists, as if i was smocking in my office in USA because i was used to do it in my france office? Why the hell whould you apply your rules in another country, on people?This is fucked up, i never will be able to drink a liter of cola with my meal, why would i shame people for doing so, i'm from another culture.I don't understand, this is not giving me right to judge if it is good or bad.
I love this! Back at my old job, people would constantly go on their cigarette breaks. I mean, like a 10-15 minute break every 1-2 hours, that adds up to at least 40 minutes extra of break-time, while every non-smoker "only" had an hour break a day. This is anything but fair. It's not even adding anything to the company, except for raising the risk of people getting sick. Granted, it's not easy to quit smoking, but it should also not be promoted (like you smoke, you get at least 40 minutes a day of extra break-time and such). Tolerated, yes. But give the non-smokers who don't constantly go on break some goodies.
This happened at my last job as well. One of my teammates would take 15-30 minute "smoke breaks" every 3 hours. Meanwhile, I never even got to take time to eat most days.
I don't think they were smoking cigarettes... lol
As a former smoker of 18 years, I think this is a great idea. I quit smoking about 4.5 years ago and I can certainly say my productivity is way up. Even outside of the smoke breaks, my mind isn't constantly thinking about going to smoke. The urge to smoke just consumes your thoughts. On the contrary, I don't think extra time off of work would have persuaded me to quit. It would definitely be a motivator for some people, though. Each person has to have their own reason to want to quit.
It's their company so their rules. Don't know if there are many companies that allow people to take (smoke)breaks whenever they want to though? A lot of companies that I've worked at or know, just have set break-times (except for bathroombreaks, if you gotta go, you gotta go :P ). Everyone gets the same amount of time to eat, smoke,... etc.
Wow, I wish I worked where you work. At my office the smokers go outside every hour for 15 minutes. I tried doing the same thing and was told I had to go back to work, I was wasting time. Then at lunchtime the smokers eat their lunch, take the allotted amount of time, and then they head out for a 15 minute smoke. Really, seriously pisses me off.
maybe you're a very small company of people with not many smokers, but overall smokers get more breaks from work.
If the managers smoke, they tend to be more permissive and less in control of time budgeting for their fellow smokers.
Worked at different size companies (one had 10 employees, other had +500, current has about 100,... with a lot of smokers) and they all have set break-times, noone was allowed to just walk out to have a break. Can go for a quick bathroombreak or to get some water but that's it. Guess it depends on the company, what kind of rules they have.
I have never worked at a company that allows employees to take more breaks just to smoke.
True!I smoke and i never took a break "for smocking".I live in france so we do have breaks, one morning one afternoon and a big one to twelve to 14 or a bit less.Totally good for smockers.I see in this subject many people are brainless and stuck to their way of dealing with smokers.They are extremists, as if i was smocking in my office in USA because i was used to do it in my france office? Why the hell whould you apply your rules in another country, on people?This is fucked up, i never will be able to drink a liter of cola with my meal, why would i shame people for doing so, i'm from another culture.I don't understand, this is not giving me right to judge if it is good or bad.
I love this! Back at my old job, people would constantly go on their cigarette breaks. I mean, like a 10-15 minute break every 1-2 hours, that adds up to at least 40 minutes extra of break-time, while every non-smoker "only" had an hour break a day. This is anything but fair. It's not even adding anything to the company, except for raising the risk of people getting sick. Granted, it's not easy to quit smoking, but it should also not be promoted (like you smoke, you get at least 40 minutes a day of extra break-time and such). Tolerated, yes. But give the non-smokers who don't constantly go on break some goodies.
This happened at my last job as well. One of my teammates would take 15-30 minute "smoke breaks" every 3 hours. Meanwhile, I never even got to take time to eat most days.
I don't think they were smoking cigarettes... lol
As a former smoker of 18 years, I think this is a great idea. I quit smoking about 4.5 years ago and I can certainly say my productivity is way up. Even outside of the smoke breaks, my mind isn't constantly thinking about going to smoke. The urge to smoke just consumes your thoughts. On the contrary, I don't think extra time off of work would have persuaded me to quit. It would definitely be a motivator for some people, though. Each person has to have their own reason to want to quit.