A SMOKE BREAK FOR NONSMOKERS

The Smoking Cessation Program That Works by Not Working

There are a lot of reasons to avoid smoking cigarettes, major ones being that they’re highly addictive and smoking too many can lead to a number of diseases (which is a really bad combination). But here’s one reason that probably doesn’t make your list: Smoking may cost you vacation time.

Per a number of studies, smokers tend to feel the pangs of withdrawal—that craving for another cigarette—sometimes just four hours after finishing one. For your typical 9-to-5 employee, that can be a problem, as it all but necessitates breaks during the workday. All told, it’s not uncommon for smokers to spend an average of ten minutes per break, multiple times per day, having a cigarette to keep the jitters away. That’s a drain on worker productivity, for sure, but it’s one that most companies overlook.

Not Piala, a marketing firm in Japan, however. In 2017, an anonymous employee at Piala made the point via the company’s suggestion box that while smokers could slack on the job for a few minutes each day, nonsmokers were given no such leeway. This was simply unfair: Everyone, smokers and nonsmokers alike, arrived at work at the same time and left at the same time. Why should the smoking group get to take breaks while the nonsmoking group had to be at their desks at all times?

While some companies may have simply issued some placating remarks in response to the complaint, Piala’s leadership decided to come up with an officewide policy instead. They realized, however, that cracking down on smoking would be difficult. According to The New York Times, approximately one third of its employees smoked at the time, and having them all go into nicotine fits wouldn’t be productive or safe. So they came up with another idea: compensatory time off. Ten to fifteen minutes each day, five days a week, for fifty-two weeks each year comes to about forty-eight hours per year. Assuming an eight-hour workday, that’s six days’ worth of work that smokers are not actually working. Piala decided to level the playing field. In response to the anonymous complaint, the company changed its vacation policy; from that point forward, nonsmokers were given six extra days of paid time off to make up for the difference.

In fairness to the smokers, the policy’s purpose wasn’t to admonish them for their breaks—certainly, employees of all stripes find ways to waste time during the day (for example texting friends or playing games on one’s phone). The company’s CEO, Takao Asuka, told the press about his true motive: “I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion.” And it may have worked! According to CNBC, shortly after the policy was announced, four of the forty-two smokers at the company tried to kick the habit.

BONUS FACT

As of December 1, 2012, all cigarette brands offered for sale in Australia have to be sold in plain packaging in the government-mandated color, Pantone 448 C. Originally described as a drab, olive green color, Pantone 448 C was chosen because of market research suggesting that it was the ugliest option. While most were pleased with the efforts to make smoking as unattractive as possible, not everyone liked how the color was spoken about. Specifically, the Australian Olive Association objected; they didn’t want olives associated with either smoking or ugly colors. As a result, Pantone 448 C is now typically described as a “drab dark brown.”