This Japanese Company Is Giving Non-Smoking Employees Six Extra Days Of Leave
The company estimates that each cigarette break takes at least 15 minutes.
By John Lim — 01 Nov 2017, 01:10 PM
A Japanese company is offering non-smokers an additional six days of leave to make up for the time off smokers take for cigarette breaks
Piala Inc., a Tokyo-based marketing firm is granting its non-smoking staff an additional six days of leave a year to make up for the time off smokers take for cigarette breaks.
The scheme was introduced in September after non-smoking employees complained that they were working more than their colleagues who took time off for smoke breaks
"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", said Hirotaka Matsushima, a spokesman for the company told The Telegraph.
It was reported that the company is situated on the 29th floor of an office building and anyone wanting a cigarette would have to go to the basement level - causing each smoke break to last for around 15 minutes.
The CEO of the company followed up on the complaints by offering extra time off to non-smoking employees
"I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion," Takao Asuka, the Piala Inc CEO, was quoted as saying.
And it worked.
The scheme has encouraged four employees to give up smoking so far. Who can't say no to more leave days right?
Non-smoking employees have been utilising the additional days off since it was introduced
Matsushima, who himself is a non-smoker, used the leave days to take his family on a vacation.
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