smoking at work
Discussion
When I smoked in work the boss pulled me and my smoking partner about us going once an hour for 5 minutes. We pointed out that unlike the non smokers we didn't take a 15 minute tea break which usually took 20 minutes morning & afternoon and were usually available over lunchtime to help other people out, mutual back scratching sorted the issue out.
PHmember said:
Even if you don't have one cig every hour it soon adds up.
I used to smoke, I loved it - I was one cig EVERY hour at work. Over the course of an eight hour shift that's at least 6 cigs in work time - at 5 minutes per ciggie.
30 minutes every day.
2.5 hours a week (5 day week)
10 hours per month.
120 hours per year.
That's THREE WEEKS off EVERY YEAR over a non-smoker. Sound fair? Nope.
It's not just the 5 mins smoking. It's the lead up to thinking about smoking, so your mind it elsewhere, then there's the time you need to get back into work mode and the task at hand. I used to smoke, I loved it - I was one cig EVERY hour at work. Over the course of an eight hour shift that's at least 6 cigs in work time - at 5 minutes per ciggie.
30 minutes every day.
2.5 hours a week (5 day week)
10 hours per month.
120 hours per year.
That's THREE WEEKS off EVERY YEAR over a non-smoker. Sound fair? Nope.
Kill all smokers. (Slowly over a number of years)
Every workplace I have been involved with, as employer or employee, smokers have taken the mickey and caused friction with non smokers.
Despite threats and negotiation, fag ends were always left on the floor along with bits of packaging. When a smoking ban was introduced smokers would hide away to smoke, at one place furtive smoking resulted in a visit from the Fire Brigade.
I always hire non smokers but it's funny how a number take up smoking as soon as they settle in. The employers money wasted by smokers standing outside with the door open and the heating on must be considerable.
Despite threats and negotiation, fag ends were always left on the floor along with bits of packaging. When a smoking ban was introduced smokers would hide away to smoke, at one place furtive smoking resulted in a visit from the Fire Brigade.
I always hire non smokers but it's funny how a number take up smoking as soon as they settle in. The employers money wasted by smokers standing outside with the door open and the heating on must be considerable.
Smoking gives me time to think and I often have useful work discussions with other smokers while outside. But my job is flexible I set my own schedule and manage my own delivery so no one to stop me really. Bit different if its a shop floor.
At our office they sold the coffee/tea facility to an external caterer and took away all the free tea/coffee machines. So now if you want a coffee it can take up to 15 minutes as there is only one coffee shop for around 800 people and the queues are long. I only have 2 coffees a day, many of our people drink 4 or more so I think the time balances out.
At our office they sold the coffee/tea facility to an external caterer and took away all the free tea/coffee machines. So now if you want a coffee it can take up to 15 minutes as there is only one coffee shop for around 800 people and the queues are long. I only have 2 coffees a day, many of our people drink 4 or more so I think the time balances out.
Stu R said:
I couldn't care less.
Treat them well and you'll get more out of them in 45 minutes than someone you treat like s
t will give you in an hour.
Exactly this. Are they doing an appropriate amount of work, to an appropriate level of quality, and are available when they need to be?Treat them well and you'll get more out of them in 45 minutes than someone you treat like s
t will give you in an hour. If so, they can take as many breaks as they like.
55palfers said:
How many times do parents turn up late / need to leave early due to "little Johnny / Jane "
When I get to work late I stay late to make up for it, and if I need to leave early I come in early. I generally don't see smokers coming in early or staying late to make up for their work day breaks. Although to add to my previous comment, the smokers in our office aren't the worst, it's the dumpers.
We have 2 guys that spend so long on the toilet each day we think they cost every single member of staff of our 80 strong team a £100 bonus.
But on the plus side they don't breath stale smoke over you when they're talking to you.
We have 2 guys that spend so long on the toilet each day we think they cost every single member of staff of our 80 strong team a £100 bonus.
But on the plus side they don't breath stale smoke over you when they're talking to you.
Du1point8 said:
if working on a computer are you not allowed x minutes every hour to have a break... can they not use that?
That's a guideline not a law.As a smoker myself I give myself 2x5 minutes break, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. I'd probably be glued to my monitor the whole day otherwise.
kev b said:
Every workplace I have been involved with, as employer or employee, smokers have taken the mickey and caused friction with non smokers.
Despite threats and negotiation, fag ends were always left on the floor along with bits of packaging. When a smoking ban was introduced smokers would hide away to smoke, at one place furtive smoking resulted in a visit from the Fire Brigade.
I always hire non smokers but it's funny how a number take up smoking as soon as they settle in. The employers money wasted by smokers standing outside with the door open and the heating on must be considerable.
As a dirty smoker in my experience the friction is caused by non smokers who perceive they are not getting something someone else is. What they don't seem to take into account is the amount of time they spend in the kitchen making tea having a chat, making lunch having a chat, or just wandering around the office having a chat.Despite threats and negotiation, fag ends were always left on the floor along with bits of packaging. When a smoking ban was introduced smokers would hide away to smoke, at one place furtive smoking resulted in a visit from the Fire Brigade.
I always hire non smokers but it's funny how a number take up smoking as soon as they settle in. The employers money wasted by smokers standing outside with the door open and the heating on must be considerable.
I get in 20 mins early, don't take a lunch break and regularly stay late, so although I undoubtedly waste 20 mins a day smoking, my employer is more than repaid for this.
If I get my timing right, I can often see the same person walking from our office 150 yards away, to the cafe in our building to get a coffee 4-5 times a day, while I bet they're thinking "...tut, he wastes so much time smoking" they should actually be thinking "he wastes nearly as much time smoking as I do on my coffee breaks".
I agree chucking butts on the floor is disgusting, but every option for binning them has been removed. The metal wall ashtray was removed because of the "fire risk" because everyone knows cigarettes can set light to metal and brick. The smoking bin that was eventually put in was removed after 2-3 weeks because people in the nearest part of the office complained about the smell through their open window.The fact that they shouldn't have the window open because it messes up the ambient temperature of the whole office as the air con/heating cannot cope with it wasn't even considered.
Grumpy old git said:
As a dirty smoker in my experience the friction is caused by non smokers who perceive they are not getting something someone else is. What they don't seem to take into account is the amount of time they spend in the kitchen making tea having a chat, making lunch having a chat, or just wandering around the office having a chat.
But surely plenty of smokers also drink tea, use toilets and chat to their staff members?It's not like smokers somehow avoid all the other distractions and time wasting methods in a work place and instead use that time to quickly have a fag.
I don't work in an office but even outdoors the smokers manage to waste plenty of time each day rolling and then smoking fags. Surprising how long a "quick rolley, be too minutes" can take.
If anything it makes the non-smokers even less productive too as they tend to slack of and chat and wander about as, rather unsurprisingly, people feel a tad bitter when they crack on working whilst someone else is leaning on a wall for 15 minutes smoking.
Smoking is an pastime, a lifestyle choice. However people a right to engage in it.
Just not at work.
If you were into rebuilding cars, would you knock off every hour or so to gather with your mates in the car park to tinker with an engine?
You'd soon be sacked, and with good cause.
If you want to smoke, don't do it at work.
A few years ago, myself and my boss ran a busy national award winning department. It was a quiet day, most of the staff were out and we were pissing around a bit, looking at cars on Autotrader, stuff like that. We were working, but we had got ahead of ourselves and cut ourselves a bit of slack.
Our big boss drew our attention to the fact that he thought we'd been pissing about saying something like every time he came through the department that afternoon, he noticed we were doing things other than work.
We asked when exactly he had seen us not working. His reply, every time I walked past to go out for a cigarette.
To be fair to him he took our response well when we suggested he spend a little more time being the boss in his office than hanging out in the car park smoking.
He was a good guy so there was not problem, but it did highlight the fact that taking cigarette breaks and doing no work was fine from the cleaners right up to the MD, yet a couple of hard working non smoking guys - who usually skipped lunch - were skiving when they spent a little time on Autotrader.
I would prefer not to hire a smoker, in the same way I'd not like to hire someone who thought a liquid lunch was the order of the day.
I guess you can't ask someone at interview if they smoke or not and therefore make a decision based on their response.
Just not at work.
If you were into rebuilding cars, would you knock off every hour or so to gather with your mates in the car park to tinker with an engine?
You'd soon be sacked, and with good cause.
If you want to smoke, don't do it at work.
A few years ago, myself and my boss ran a busy national award winning department. It was a quiet day, most of the staff were out and we were pissing around a bit, looking at cars on Autotrader, stuff like that. We were working, but we had got ahead of ourselves and cut ourselves a bit of slack.
Our big boss drew our attention to the fact that he thought we'd been pissing about saying something like every time he came through the department that afternoon, he noticed we were doing things other than work.
We asked when exactly he had seen us not working. His reply, every time I walked past to go out for a cigarette.
To be fair to him he took our response well when we suggested he spend a little more time being the boss in his office than hanging out in the car park smoking.
He was a good guy so there was not problem, but it did highlight the fact that taking cigarette breaks and doing no work was fine from the cleaners right up to the MD, yet a couple of hard working non smoking guys - who usually skipped lunch - were skiving when they spent a little time on Autotrader.
I would prefer not to hire a smoker, in the same way I'd not like to hire someone who thought a liquid lunch was the order of the day.
I guess you can't ask someone at interview if they smoke or not and therefore make a decision based on their response.
wildcat45 said:
I guess you can't ask someone at interview if they smoke or not and therefore make a decision based on their response.
Probably not, but it's not hard to tell if they've had a smoke before coming to the interview if you're a non smoker. 
Being a hypocritical ex smoker myself I tend to really notice it these days if someone comes into a room who has been smoking recently.Reading many of the comments on this thread does make me glad that I don't usually work in an office on strict 9-5 time...if I chose to have a longer lunch/coffee/toilet break, then it means that I get to go home later. I prefer to minimise my breaks, I get the job done sooner and the customer is happy, I beat the traffic on the way home. I'm clinging on to doing field work myself since I don't want to be clock watching like some on here...
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