Smoking/vaping breaks
Discussion
A lot of our team smoke / vape and their “regular” breaks are begging to grate on the rest of the team who don’t, particularly when they turn up to work when they’re supposed to star their shift and spend the first 15m having a coffee and smoke.
We have an ideal opportunity to address this next week and are thinking of going down the route of;
- the start of your shift is the start of your shift, please be ready to actually start work then.
- there will be a 15minute break every 2 hours
None of the team have worked for us for longer than 3/4 months.
Are we being reasonable or is there anything else we should consider/do?
We have an ideal opportunity to address this next week and are thinking of going down the route of;
- the start of your shift is the start of your shift, please be ready to actually start work then.
- there will be a 15minute break every 2 hours
None of the team have worked for us for longer than 3/4 months.
Are we being reasonable or is there anything else we should consider/do?
super7 said:
When they all go for a 15 minute fag break..... go for a 15 minute s
t break!!
Always used to make sure crapping was done on company time
I used to sit and do nothing for the 15 minutes when half of the office went out for a cig break. The stupid idiots would come back in stinking and whack up the heating which was the worst part. t break!!Always used to make sure crapping was done on company time
I hated working in offices, a soul destroying way to earn money, mainly customer service roles and the absolute worst, sales.
nickv said:
I used to smoke i use a vape now and i also run a business
There would never be any smoke breaks in workplace, there is the regular morning and lunchtime breaks, smokers would have to use these breaks for their habit and it would be exact same break time as non smokers.....end off
Pre- lockdown, work had morning/afternoon tea break, plus lunch. Everyone gets the same break time.There would never be any smoke breaks in workplace, there is the regular morning and lunchtime breaks, smokers would have to use these breaks for their habit and it would be exact same break time as non smokers.....end off
That's when we would go outside for a smoke - a lot of the non smokers would come outside and chat.
That seems fair enough to me.
Whilst it might grate and I'm not a smoker or condoning what they are doing. Is it causing a productivity or results issue? Are they meeting or exceeding targets or KPIs or whatever or are the products being produced to an acceptable level or quantity? I don't think we know the nature of the business so it's a bit hard to give any decent feedback.
I'm a great believer in letting results speak for themselves. If they can deliver and have a smoke break, great. If they don't deliver then it needs to be raised with them or pointed out that they aren't meeting the expected level whereas other members of staff are.
I'm a great believer in letting results speak for themselves. If they can deliver and have a smoke break, great. If they don't deliver then it needs to be raised with them or pointed out that they aren't meeting the expected level whereas other members of staff are.
You sound really generous with offering a 15 minute break every 2 hours, no where I have ever worked has offered that.
My current role offers 2 10 minute paid breaks a day, and then a 60 minute unpaid lunch.
I have always been required to be at my desk and ready to start work at the start of my shift, if im not, then I make the time up at the end of the shift, or through lunch.
If it was me, they would get a morning and afternoon break, and then a lunch.
My current role offers 2 10 minute paid breaks a day, and then a 60 minute unpaid lunch.
I have always been required to be at my desk and ready to start work at the start of my shift, if im not, then I make the time up at the end of the shift, or through lunch.
If it was me, they would get a morning and afternoon break, and then a lunch.
I'm on the vape now which makes life a lot easier but we're a fairly small office. No clocking in & out (via a logging system anyway) but we would just not take the piss. I've an hour long lunch break but if I popped out for a ciggie or two in the morning I would just get back to work a bit earlier. Same in the afternoon, if I spent a total of 15 minutes (for example) I'd just stay back an extra 15-20 mins to make up for it.
I realise a lot of this wouldn't be managable/controlable in larger workplaces & my office takes 10 seconds to get outside, whereas those in huge offices it could be a 5 min process just to get outside.
I realise a lot of this wouldn't be managable/controlable in larger workplaces & my office takes 10 seconds to get outside, whereas those in huge offices it could be a 5 min process just to get outside.
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Completely off topic..
We are encouraged to wear masks to stop droplets from our lungs spreading. How in the name of all that is holy are people still allowed to vape in public? If you can smell the flavour of the vape you've inhaled some of their droplets.
It makes no sense.
I agree with this, I vape and I'm very concious of where I do it when I'm in public. I realise that the particles of smoke/vape with lurk longer but how does it compare to just regular breath of someone not smoking? If only Mythbusters was still ont he go! We are encouraged to wear masks to stop droplets from our lungs spreading. How in the name of all that is holy are people still allowed to vape in public? If you can smell the flavour of the vape you've inhaled some of their droplets.
It makes no sense.
Rod200SX said:
2 sMoKiN bArReLs said:
Completely off topic..
We are encouraged to wear masks to stop droplets from our lungs spreading. How in the name of all that is holy are people still allowed to vape in public? If you can smell the flavour of the vape you've inhaled some of their droplets.
It makes no sense.
I agree with this, I vape and I'm very concious of where I do it when I'm in public. I realise that the particles of smoke/vape with lurk longer but how does it compare to just regular breath of someone not smoking? If only Mythbusters was still ont he go! We are encouraged to wear masks to stop droplets from our lungs spreading. How in the name of all that is holy are people still allowed to vape in public? If you can smell the flavour of the vape you've inhaled some of their droplets.
It makes no sense.
To answer some of the questions it's a manufacturing plant with a team of 8, 5 of whom smoke, when they go the whole line stops and we frequently don't get all orders out in time...... if the courier arrived half tonan hour later we would.
As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
Marcellus said:
To answer some of the questions it's a manufacturing plant with a team of 8, 5 of whom smoke, when they go the whole line stops and we frequently don't get all orders out in time...... if the courier arrived half tonan hour later we would.
As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
Yeah as someone who is all for smoke breaks, that sounds horrendous. The workplace shouldn't stop for that. As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
When I worked in a pub years ago, we had to ask to go out for a cigarette and the manager was brilliant (though seemed harsh at the time). If it was busy it'd be a straight "no", as the business would suffer for it slowing down even for 5 minutes.
The newer kit you mention sounds like a good chance to impliment more strict timings for them to go outside but keep it strict to that.
Marcellus said:
To answer some of the questions it's a manufacturing plant with a team of 8, 5 of whom smoke, when they go the whole line stops and we frequently don't get all orders out in time...... if the courier arrived half tonan hour later we would.
As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
If over 60% of the team are smokers you’re going to have problems, but stopping a production line because someone wants to go for a fag is taking the piss but I bet the smokers don’t see it this way (or think you’re a soft touch for letting them establish it as normal). Personally I wouldn’t have hired that percentage of smokers as you need them to feel like the outliers and let social compliance/peer pressure have a greater effect. As for 15mins every 2 hours; we're installing a new kit next week which has to be turned off every couple of hours for 15/20minutes so it can reset itself; hence the new break regime as the line has to stop whilst it resets.
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