Smokers pop out 3-4 times a day for a ciggie. Some others might spend the same amount of time away from their desks chatting to other people, popping over to the shop, others might be at their desk nattering on the phone about non work stuff, or browsing the internet, checking Facebook, etc.
What sort of places do you work in? Some sort of grey collar work?
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.
Easy to do that when you work in the public sector but at the time I was working in the private sector in a job that hired and fired like no ones business. I don't think I would have been around for too long if I tried that one on. Equally, its easy to get away with excessive smoke breaks when you take them with the boss.
OP do you manage this person or are they a colleague? Is there any information about breaks in the staff handbook? I do sympathise because as well as the smoking breaks they are likely to take other breaks also, just as the non smokers. It amounts to a lot of time over the working day.
You must be one of those people who believe that productivity = time spent sitting at desk. It doesn't.
This is the key for me. None of us work the whole time we're at work, and we're actually MORE productive when we have proper breaks. I bet I spend just as much time not-working as the smokers at my company, even if I don't physically leave the office. That's why I don't resent smokers. I might do if I worked at a call centre or somewhere that every minute counted towards your pay, but those are the kinds of places where you have to clock in and out anyway.
Easy to do that when you work in the public sector but at the time I was working in the private sector in a job that hired and fired like no ones business. I don't think I would have been around for too long if I tried that one on. Equally, its easy to get away with excessive smoke breaks when you take them with the boss.
Pah, man up!
In all seriousness, I can't see the issue with raising the inequality you described, irrespective of whatever sector its in.....and the company in question would be on even shakier ground than you should they consider ending your employment over something like this.
This is the key for me. None of us work the whole time we're at work, and we're actually MORE productive when we have proper breaks. I bet I spend just as much time not-working as the smokers at my company, even if I don't physically leave the office. That's why I don't resent smokers. I might do if I worked at a call centre or somewhere that every minute counted towards your pay, but those are the kinds of places where you have to clock in and out anyway.
My previous employers mooted the idea of having people clocking in and out and setting fixed break times. They soon dropped the idea when it was pointed out to them that if they did this then we employees will make sure we are clocking in and out exactly for the hours we are paid for so they would be losing out on what amounted to 100's of hours of free work every week!
In all seriousness, I can't see the issue with raising the inequality you described, irrespective of whatever sector its in.....and the company in question would be on even shakier ground than you should they consider ending your employment over something like this.
:D
It was a few years ago, they wouldn't get away with it today!
It does raise a point about smokers and non smokers rights though in a barely buoyant economy. Whether you are either a smoker demanding a smoke break or a non smoker demanding equality, under current employment law, you're on thin ice if you start making demands in your first two years. You could take them to a tribunal and you could win but its doubtful and if it was an employer is under no obligation to reemploy.
In my last job, I used to take smoking breaks throughout the day, but because I worked through my lunch hour and most days worked late, it was never a problem. I know that I worked bloody hard, and very rarely did personal bits (either emails, internet or personal calls) during work hours.
I can't do that in my current job, because my boss doesn't allow it, so I go without during core hours.
A really fair, and sensible, comment. I don't smoke (obviously) but I do have friends that doe and their general consensus seems to be that they wait until lunch break, while one of them sees not smoking during the working day as a good way of cutting down.
As for someone commenting earlier on my way of dealing with the addition of another, I have a chronic alcoholic in my close family, so I am perfectly aware of the impact of addiction. As far as addiction having an impact on work though, we're all here to do the job we're paid for, not to indulge our addictions. (I'm posting this while having an afternoon off work, usually I'd post during my break).
It was a few years ago, they wouldn't get away with it today!
It does raise a point about smokers and non smokers rights though in a barely buoyant economy. Whether you are either a smoker demanding a smoke break or a non smoker demanding equality, under current employment law, you're on thin ice if you start making demands in your first two years. You could take them to a tribunal and you could win but its doubtful and if it was an employer is under no obligation to reemploy.
If it's considered inequality, I wonder if a non-smoker would get away with playing the discrimination card, especially since The Equality Act 2010 removed protection previously afforded to smokers.
OP do you manage this person or are they a colleague? Is there any information about breaks in the staff handbook? I do sympathise because as well as the smoking breaks they are likely to take other breaks also, just as the non smokers. It amounts to a lot of time over the working day.
?
She's a colleague. If I managed her, I'd be limiting the breaks. There was talk about the breaks being stopped altogether - a lot of staff here, it would seem from what I've observed so far, are a bit p'd off about it (not just this particular woman) - but it's on hold just now.
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.
How often do you spend in the toilet at work?
What are you doing in the toilet at work?
, we're all here to do the job we're paid for, not to indulge our addictions..
But this assumes they are mutually exclusive which is often not the case. I suppose if you are being paid to pack kippers, and a **** break means your kipper packing rate falls, then you may have a point, but if you are in the kind of work that needs a bit of creative thinking then it's a different story. I suppose it boils down to whether or not you are being paid to be a drone.
I would find another reason, I wouldn't want to work someone who took breaks, and stunk when you were around them
Well everybody takes breaks, nobody spends every minute they are in work actually working and as for smelling, do you really think only smokers smell?
On the general point, my smokers don't get to just pop out for a ****. People can earn extra paid breaks through high performance, an extra 15 minute break, but that's for non-smokers too.
I did once employ someone on the office side of the business who thought he could take coffee and **** breaks when he wanted but that was stamped out pretty quickly.
Nobody, but nobody, smoker or not, spends every second of their working day actually working. People go to the toilet, get drinks, have a natter with the person sat next to them. If someone wants to nip out and get a ****, then there really isn't any difference.
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.
Sanity. How pathetic to even think of clicking people's tea or toilet breaks.
I smoke but I wouldn't go out every hour. Once in the morning and once in the afternoon would give me my nicotine fill. If anyone didn't like it I'd just take a shorter lunch break provided the boss was okay with that. I'd struggle to go 4-5 hours without a fix, if the boss never allowed smoke breaks, but I'd adjust if I needed to.
The smokers here spend around an hour or more a day smoking I would say. I'm not bothered though unless they come back in and stand next to me, especially the beaten up admin woman, who looks like a drug addict, is thin enough to slip down a grid and reeks of **** and booze.
Well everybody takes breaks, nobody spends every minute they are in work actually working and as for smelling, do you really think only smokers smell?
On the general point, my smokers don't get to just pop out for a ****. People can earn extra paid breaks through high performance, an extra 15 minute break, but that's for non-smokers too.
I did once employ someone on the office side of the business who thought he could take coffee and **** breaks when he wanted but that was stamped out pretty quickly.
We can take breaks when we want within reason but we're mostly all in before 9 (we start coming in around 8, while a few are working on trains and get in at 9.30) and few people leave at 5.30 without taking work home with them.
Our bosses are more concerned about the work being done, not whether it's done on a train to the Sticks at 9pm or outside in the street while having a ciggie at 9.30am.
It's pretty much like that across our industry. Mileages will vary in others.
Comments
What sort of places do you work in? Some sort of grey collar work?
Easy to do that when you work in the public sector but at the time I was working in the private sector in a job that hired and fired like no ones business. I don't think I would have been around for too long if I tried that one on. Equally, its easy to get away with excessive smoke breaks when you take them with the boss.
This is the key for me. None of us work the whole time we're at work, and we're actually MORE productive when we have proper breaks. I bet I spend just as much time not-working as the smokers at my company, even if I don't physically leave the office. That's why I don't resent smokers. I might do if I worked at a call centre or somewhere that every minute counted towards your pay, but those are the kinds of places where you have to clock in and out anyway.
I work in an office, which comes under white collar I think
Pah, man up!
In all seriousness, I can't see the issue with raising the inequality you described, irrespective of whatever sector its in.....and the company in question would be on even shakier ground than you should they consider ending your employment over something like this.
My previous employers mooted the idea of having people clocking in and out and setting fixed break times. They soon dropped the idea when it was pointed out to them that if they did this then we employees will make sure we are clocking in and out exactly for the hours we are paid for so they would be losing out on what amounted to 100's of hours of free work every week!
It was a few years ago, they wouldn't get away with it today!
It does raise a point about smokers and non smokers rights though in a barely buoyant economy. Whether you are either a smoker demanding a smoke break or a non smoker demanding equality, under current employment law, you're on thin ice if you start making demands in your first two years. You could take them to a tribunal and you could win but its doubtful and if it was an employer is under no obligation to reemploy.
A really fair, and sensible, comment. I don't smoke (obviously) but I do have friends that doe and their general consensus seems to be that they wait until lunch break, while one of them sees not smoking during the working day as a good way of cutting down.
As for someone commenting earlier on my way of dealing with the addition of another, I have a chronic alcoholic in my close family, so I am perfectly aware of the impact of addiction. As far as addiction having an impact on work though, we're all here to do the job we're paid for, not to indulge our addictions. (I'm posting this while having an afternoon off work, usually I'd post during my break).
If it's considered inequality, I wonder if a non-smoker would get away with playing the discrimination card, especially since The Equality Act 2010 removed protection previously afforded to smokers.
Daft line to take. You'd be breaking employment law if that was the sole reason you gave for not employing someone.
I wouldn't employ thieves, either. Disgusting.
She's a colleague. If I managed her, I'd be limiting the breaks. There was talk about the breaks being stopped altogether - a lot of staff here, it would seem from what I've observed so far, are a bit p'd off about it (not just this particular woman) - but it's on hold just now.
I would find another reason, I wouldn't want to work someone who took breaks, and stunk when you were around them
How often do you spend in the toilet at work?
What are you doing in the toilet at work?
I wouldn't want a known thief to be left alone near my desk either so would probably try and avoid employing people like you.
But this assumes they are mutually exclusive which is often not the case. I suppose if you are being paid to pack kippers, and a **** break means your kipper packing rate falls, then you may have a point, but if you are in the kind of work that needs a bit of creative thinking then it's a different story. I suppose it boils down to whether or not you are being paid to be a drone.
Well everybody takes breaks, nobody spends every minute they are in work actually working and as for smelling, do you really think only smokers smell?
On the general point, my smokers don't get to just pop out for a ****. People can earn extra paid breaks through high performance, an extra 15 minute break, but that's for non-smokers too.
I did once employ someone on the office side of the business who thought he could take coffee and **** breaks when he wanted but that was stamped out pretty quickly.
Sanity. How pathetic to even think of clicking people's tea or toilet breaks.
We can take breaks when we want within reason but we're mostly all in before 9 (we start coming in around 8, while a few are working on trains and get in at 9.30) and few people leave at 5.30 without taking work home with them.
Our bosses are more concerned about the work being done, not whether it's done on a train to the Sticks at 9pm or outside in the street while having a ciggie at 9.30am.
It's pretty much like that across our industry. Mileages will vary in others.