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Breaks for smoking at work
Valentine
Posts: 3,853 Forum Member
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Apologies if there have been other threads on this - if there have, I haven't seen them.
I started a new job late last year, working for a large company. There are very few people here - surprising given the size of the place - who smoke. One of people in my team goes out for a cigarette at least 4 times in the morning and again in the afternoon, for roughly 10 minutes each time (in addition to the time it takes to get to the smoking shelter, right at the other end of our site).
She has complained that she feels 'spyed on' by staff, as the office manager has commented in the past on how often she goes out, but she seems to feel hard done to, rather than being picked up for wasting company time.
What are people's thoughts about all this additional time smokers get off during the working day? I think it's ridiculous - here they only have to go from 8.30am to 12 and then 12.30 until 4.30. They're getting paid for time they're not working. (I might have a quick browse on the Web when I'm not busy, or at lunch time, but I know my colleague does this in addition to having the breaks).
I'd be in favour of scrapping the breaks or allowing them but as unpaid. It is an addiction, after all.
I started a new job late last year, working for a large company. There are very few people here - surprising given the size of the place - who smoke. One of people in my team goes out for a cigarette at least 4 times in the morning and again in the afternoon, for roughly 10 minutes each time (in addition to the time it takes to get to the smoking shelter, right at the other end of our site).
She has complained that she feels 'spyed on' by staff, as the office manager has commented in the past on how often she goes out, but she seems to feel hard done to, rather than being picked up for wasting company time.
What are people's thoughts about all this additional time smokers get off during the working day? I think it's ridiculous - here they only have to go from 8.30am to 12 and then 12.30 until 4.30. They're getting paid for time they're not working. (I might have a quick browse on the Web when I'm not busy, or at lunch time, but I know my colleague does this in addition to having the breaks).
I'd be in favour of scrapping the breaks or allowing them but as unpaid. It is an addiction, after all.
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Just ridiculous
Personally, I'm really not arsed with worrying about whether smokers get 15mins / 20mins, or whatever, extra breaks a day. I'm sitting here dossing on my PC right now and tomorrow, I'll probably have a slightly longer lunch break to get my hair cut....but I'm on call 24/7 and sometimes work late or come in on weekends, so it's all swings and roundabouts really.
At the end of the day, if people complete their tasks, meet their objectives, etc., I can't see the harm. If performance becomes an issue then I'd expect their manager to implement tighter control of their time management.
Why? Are you worried that these breaks are having an affect on the company or are you just annoyed that they get to stop working for 10 minutes?
Sounds like the latter from your post
Besides, just because someone isn't at their desk doesn't mean they aren't working or thinking about work. Often I'll sit on the bus home thinking about problems at work, and I don't charge this back to the company. These things balance out in the end.
Depends on the job. A change of surroundings can spark new ideas, one good idea can be worth a month sitting at a screen doing nothing creative.
I'd bet that non-smokers spend just as long swinging the lead at work as the average smoker spends on their breaks.
You want to smoke, fine that's your choice. But you don't do it on my time.
Or maybe they should just let it pass because they know the smokers arrive earlier, leave later, work through lunch, meet deadlines, help other people etc etc while non smokers are bitching about them on the internet?
Probably the best way forward, then people are only being paid for the work they do.
Either that or make NO smoking breaks at all, or allow smoking breaks and allow non smokers the commensurate time off.
You're right however, going by the OP, taking an extra 1 hour and 20 minutes per day on top of your given breaks (which I have no doubt aren't as long as that) is a bit rich and more than likely not productive.
Actually, this isn't entirely accurate and depends entirely on the manager. I used to take and apple break when the smokers had their **** break. After a week of this I was told that I had more than enough breaks in the day to eat food.
Is this an appropriate attitude towards addiction, is more my concern?
I used to smoke, and I've worked for a number of companies where people complained about the number of breaks smokers were taking. The funniest one when when some jobsworth insisted that the amount of time smokers spent in the smoking area was monitored. The HR Manager went one stage farther and, on the quiet, monitored all breaks. Guess who spent more time standing at the coffee machine chatting to her pals than any smoker spent in the smoking area?
As well as a change of scenery, it's sometimes a good way to interact with people from other departments and talk about work. Sadly, there are those who seem to think (and I use the word "think" loosely!) that if you're standing in the smoking area you can't be discussing work, but if you're at your desk, you must be working (as opposed to browsing the internet!)
If that was me, I'd happily point out the positive discrimination taking place and, should there still be an issue with me enjoying the same privileges as smokers, I'd ask for smokers and non-smokers to be treated equally when it comes to breaks.
I can't do that in my current job, because my boss doesn't allow it, so I go without during core hours.
In other jobs I have taken a shorter lunch break and used the rest to take a 'smoke' break. Interestingly though in my last job a couple of non-smokers were the ones that took the pi$$ - never back from lunch on time even though the next person couldn't go until they come back, 5 or 6 'tea/toilet' breaks a day (obviously I used to take tea/toilet breaks, a quick 5mins and back. They used to be 15/20mins), have a 5min flick thru' the news paper break. I'm no angel but I still only had my hour a day as opposed to their 1.5 - 2hrs!
I wouldn't employ a smoker, disgusting