TL;DR – Good move.
Japanese marketing firm Piala Inc has offered its non-smoking workers an extra six days off per year to offset the time taken by smokers during cigarette break. This increase was introduced after non-smokers complained they were working more than their colleagues who smoked.
The Tokyo-based company is reportedly based on the 29th floor of an office block, hence making any cigarette break last at least 15 minutes, according to staff.
The company policy is intended to encourage staff to quit smoking.
“I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion”, Takao Asuka, the Piala Inc CEO, told Kyodo News.
Japanese men have historically had high smoking rates, and there has been an increase in efforts to reduce smoking in Japan in recent months.
In July this year, Tokyo governor Yuriko Koike pushed for a smoking ban in public places across the Japanese capital ahead of the 2020 Summer Olympics, citing concerns over the city’s poor air quality.
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