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A Japanese Company Is Giving Nonsmokers Longer Vacations (fastcompany.com)
An anonymous reader shares a report: Marketing firm Piala introduced the new policy in September after nonsmokers complained that they were working more than their colleagues who smoked. The company's offices are reportedly on the 29th floor, meaning that popping out for a smoke break meant a solid 15 minutes away from work. Multiply that by several smoke breaks a day, and the hours start to add up, which began to tick off nonsmoking coworkers. A spokesman for the company told The Telegraph that one of those nonsmokers slipped a note in the company's suggestion box and the CEO agreed. Now nonsmokers are entitled to more vacation time, which the company hopes will encourage smokers to quit their filthy habit.
What a coincidence! I, too, like completing puzzles during my lunch hour. Maybe we can be friends?
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
If this idea offends you
LOL, charging smokers more for health/life insurance has been SOP in the industry for decades, and this guy's getting all aggro over his misconception of it.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
I, for one, am sick of this propaganda.
If you want to illegalize it, fine. But I'm tired of the constant ads for "TRUTH" (now going all the way to claim that smoking is racist) all the while I'm counter propagandized (by some of the same companies) about how pot smoking is good for you and should be legalized.
And I say this as a non-smoker!
Are we going to give similar breaks to single employees without children and how great that is?
Are we going to count those who take 5 coffee breaks a day?!
How about those gym nuts that disappear for an hour a day (not including lunch) to go for a run and promise they'll make the time up later?!
Spare me your sanctimonious bs.
in Japanese company you hit the bar after your 10 hour day at the office.
Seems cheaper to create an enclosed room on the 29th floor where smokers can get their fix in 5 minutes instead of 15 minutes.
with blackjack and slots.
Smokers die young. Their lifetime healthcare costs are _lower_. Sense health care after age 65 is highly subsidised, we want _more_ smokers.
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
Well, good for the Japanese, bully for them.
But honestly, when I step out for a smoke I step out with one or two of my co-workers, we actively discuss what we're working on and solve some problems, and then go back at it.
Going out for a smoke doesn't necessarily mean you aren't working. Sometimes, you are actually working the whole time. I can't tell you how many times I've helped a co-worker sort out how to do something (or he helped me) while having a smoke.
Just because I'm not typing doesn't mean I'm not working.
It simply may not be true that you're doing less work -- in fact, I regularly see co-workers spend more time on Facebook or texting or what have you than I spend smoking every day. The difference being is I'm more likely to still be working while I'm smoking.
Where I'm actively thinking doesn't change that I am actually doing it.
Somehow I doubt the math works out anyway.
For simplicity lets assume there are 200 working days in a year. If you take a single break every day for 15 minutes, you have spent 50h on those breaks, which would make it over a week of work time. Multiple breaks will increase this even further. Somehow I doubt the company will offer that much vacation time to non smokers.
Last time I checked, smoke breaks are unpaid
Really? Where? I've been paid for every single smoke break I've taken during the last 30 years.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
Not actually the case.
Wait what? There's still backwards countries where you're allowed to smoke indoors in a company building?
*mind blown*
Are non-smokers going to have to pay for smokers' healthcare too
Not where I work. We don't hire smokers. We ask about tobacco use at the very beginning of the interview process, and reject all users.
This is perfectly legal. Smokers have no rights.
We hold down our healthcare costs, and it helps employee morale since nobody resents the smokers going on breaks and taking extra sick days.
I don't think there is much downside, since there are few smokers in California, and they tend to not be super bright.
The Japanese don't "hit the bar". The British "hit the bar". The Japanese "challenge their co-workers to a competitive drinking session".
People love socialized medicine. Everyone who can afford it seems willing to sign up for voluntary socialized medicine, aka insurance.
In Soviet Russia, bar hit you!
[c'mon, you asked for it.]
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Wait what? There's still backwards countries where you're allowed to smoke indoors in a company building?
*mind blown*
Yes, it's called Las Vegas...
We were in Vegas this fall for touristy stuff (grand canyon, hoover dam, etc.) and to enjoy the warm weather. Living in the Boston area where smoking isn't allowed in bars, I'd forgotten just how horrible the smell of smoke was. It just hits you like a wave when you walk into any of the Casinos. I would have thought that they would have, at least, upgraded their air ex-changers and filters to handle it a lot better.
Smokers die young. Their lifetime healthcare costs are _lower_. Sense health care after age 65 is highly subsidised, we want _more_ smokers.
Not actually the case.
Yes it is.
Not where I work. We don't hire smokers. We ask about tobacco use at the very beginning of the interview process, and reject all users.
Well, that's just stupid - you would really pass up a chance to hire the next Tesla or Hawkings, because they smoke? I bet your competition loves such counterproductive thinking.
This is perfectly legal. Smokers have no rights.
Not true - smokers have the exact same civil liberties as non-smokers. The key term here is "private company."
since there are few smokers in California, and they tend to not be super bright.
I cannot disagree that Californians do not seem to be all that bright.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Are non-smokers going to have to pay for smokers' healthcare too
Not where I work. We don't hire smokers. We ask about tobacco use at the very beginning of the interview process, and reject all users.
This is perfectly legal. Smokers have no rights.
You indicate later in your post that you are in California. What you are doing is not legal.
In most states smokers are protected against hiring discrimination. In particular, the majority of states cannot discriminate against you based on legal activity conducted outside of work hours. However, smokers may be required to pay more for health insurance. Or in some states, they may be denied employment if their smoking is incompatible with the job requirements (e.g., the American Lung Association may be able to decline to employ a smoker.)
https://www.workplacefairness....
https://www.workplacefairness....
I'm no fan of smoking or smokers, but smokers do indeed have rights.
If it weren't for deadlines, nothing would be late.
Where I work, I'm expected to be at the office for 9 hours a day, and I get a one hour break. The smokers in my office have to either split up their daily break time into pieces, and use it in parts, generally leaving a shorter time for lunch, or else work longer days.
File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
'Bad fit.'
Never say _anything_ else, especially when dealing with 'protected classes'. What is the upside?
John McAfee 'It was like that time I hired that Bangkok prostitute; to do my taxes, while I fucked my accountant'
In my anecdotal experience it's the biggest slackers who notice and complain about stuff like that.
Also it's been widely known for quite a while now that taking frequent breaks increases productivity because we work better in "sprints" that are rewarded in the short term with a break. If I recall correctly it was coincidentally 15 minutes per hour of work.
Smoking is a gross habit and the 15 minute breaks are better spent doing something else but from an employer standpoint the 15 minute break people are getting more done than the people bitching about them.
Was it just the casinos or everywhere? Many states like my own Florida have laws where there is only no smoking in restaurants, or bar/restaurants where the the percentage of food sales goes over a certain ratio. So yes in Florida you will find smoky casinos, bars, and even some bars that serve food. You also will find bars that do not allow smoking by management discretion.
As you might expect (if not being too cynical), Nevada (like most states) has similar Clean-air laws...
FWIW, some states (like Colorado) have gone further to protect the workers in Bars Restaurants and Casinos and prohibited smoking there as well (although there is a loophole in the law for establishments that sell more than $50K/year in tobacco allowing them to be considered cigar bars where smoking is allowed). Unfortunately, this doesn't apply to Casinos owned by Indian interests as they are considered part of tribes and are sovereign entities which for better or worse are allowed to make their own laws.
So incredibly wrong but not at all surprising, after all we're in the era of alternative facts.
Smokers cost the system somewhere around 25% more than non-smokers over their lifetime. They are far more likely to have expensive cancer and other medical care costs. Treating lung cancer can cost more than $1 million down to $50,000 or so depending on type and number of treatments needed. And you have several orders of magnitude more probability to get lung cancer than those who don't smoke.
But not even including lung cancer risks, smokers have higher blood pressure, more heart disease, lung and kidney problems and on and on. Smoking does nothing but increase health care costs often massively.
Where I work, we hire people on the basis of merit-based qualifications. I honestly don't care if you smoke crack, marijuana, cigarettes, whatever. Show up to meetings on time, play nice with co-workers. If you can create value, you're hired.
I'd just like to throw this out there because unfortunately a lot of backwards thinking companies think they have the high ground, and they don't. If a company wants to pass up an employee because they have a stick up their ass, there are thousands of competitors who will hire instead. The only loser will be the idiot that passed up a smoker and has a vacant position for 6-12 months because they have no understanding of the market.
You ever met a smoker that smokes ONLY outside work hours and identifies as a smoker?
Yes: me. I've been a pipe smoker (never cigarettes) for over forty years, and I've never had the slightest desire to slip out for a smoke. As I drive my own car to work, I can smoke then, or at home and have no need to smoke at work.
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The Japanese don't "hit the bar". The British "hit the bar". The Japanese "challenge their co-workers to a competitive drinking session".
Americans "hit the bar", the British "go to the pub"...
I am a smoker - and I went through almost 12 months without anyone at that workplace even commenting.
I was the first into the office in the morning, and the last out - for years.
'Smokers' *already* know that they have to be 'seen' do do more to make up for the 2/3/4 5-min breaks a day.
Even skipping lunch 'hours' to make them 'lunch-at-the-desk-while-working'
The earlier post about the use of company time and resources on 'personal' use such as FB, I believe is a significantly worse issue, having seen what younger staff can do to a small-medium company internet connection using their office desktops and personal mobile devices.