News Quit smoking get six extra paid holidays

Ebisu-based Piala Inc. certainly got a lot of media attention when they decided to grant non-smoking employees or those who'd quit six extra days of paid leave:

"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. "Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate", Mr Matsushma told The Telegraph. Resentment among the non-smokers grew because 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 level, with each smoking break lasting around 15 minutes.

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A brilliant idea that I hope will catch on with other companies. I've always wondered why smokers are given so much leeway.

According to the World Health Organisation, 21.7 percent of Japanese adults smoke, although the figure is higher among males and older generations. Japanese companies are increasing efforts to protect employees from the impact of second-hand smoke, with Lawson Inc, an operator of 24-hour convenience stores, in June banning smoking in its head office and regional offices.

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Source: Non-smokers get six days extra paid leave to make up for smokers' cigarette breaks at Japanese firm

I think that's a great idea. Give an incentive to workers that don't smoke and a reason for those that do to quit.

My school used to have a nice pool (later replaced by a new building). During classes it would only open at five, but during breaks it opened early in the afternoon--and I went almost daily. There was another teacher or two who would use the gym part of it then, too.

Of course there were occasional comments about recreation on school time, and the easiest comeback was to comment on how much time the smokers wasted thru a given day.

The admin also encouraged things like open office hours, lunch or coffee with students, even sometimes an English corner, where a teacher would be on call for informal conversation with whoever wanted to stop by for contact outside of the regular teacher-student relationship. But any informal conversation at the gym/pool wasn't recognized for its potential. The place had a nice lobby--carpeted and with a few couch-like places to sit--and it was easy to sit and talk before the front desk opened, or on the way out.

In a country where typically you can only actually use your paid vacation days for illnesses, deaths in the family, weddings, or other such personal tragedies I don't look for this to catch on widely

I would rather they offered non-smokers the opportunity to leave an hour early each day based on the rough calculation of how long the typical smoker might spend outside (i.e. not working) indulging their habit.