A Japanese company is to offer its non-smoking employees an extra six days of paid holiday a year to compensate for the regular breaks its smokers take.
Piala Inc, a marketing firm based in Tokyo, introduced the perk in September and it has proved popular among staff.
‘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’, Hirotaka Matsushima, a spokesman for the company told The Telegraph.
A Japanese company is to offer its non-smoking employees an extra six days of paid holiday a year, to compensate for the regular breaks the regular smokers take (stock image)
‘Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate’, Mr Matsushma added.
The divide between company smokers and non-smokers became more apparent because of the company’s location, on the 29th floor of an office block.
Meaning anyone wanting to take a cigarette break had to go to the basement level, lasting around 15 minutes a time.
So following complaints, company bosses decided to act and introduce a means of readdressing the balance.
The bitter divide between company smokers and non-smokers became more apparent because of the company’s location, on the 29th floor of an office block (stock image)
Company CEO Takao Asuka said he hoped the move would encourage employees to quit though incentives instead of penalties or coercion.
So far, at least 30 of the company’s 120 employees have made use of the extra days off.
Spokesman Matsushima himself also enjoyed a holiday with his family with the extra days. While four people have given up smoking since the incentives began.
Company CEO Takao Asuka said he hoped the move would encourage employees to quit though incentives instead of penalties or coercion
World Health Organisation statistics indicate 21.7 percent of Japanese adults smoke – though the figure is higher among older generations.
In July, a Tokyo governor made plans to impose a smoking ban in public across the capital ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics.
But the proposal is likely to face strong opposition from pro-smoking politicians as well as those in the hospitality sector and tobacco manufacturers in Tokyo – including Japan Tobacco, a one-third government-owned firm that contributed $700million in dividends to the state in 2015.