Smoke breaks

alannologo

I wonder if I was to stand up every hour and say hey im just going down the car park to stand and chat for 7 minutes would this be looked at as acceptable from my boss or is it a rule that I must give myself cancer while doing it?

im fed up of this smoker being able to get around and hours extra a day of free time because of there habit.

cute_cow

i am a smoker and i get a ten minute break in the morning, which everyone does, and then lunch and that's it, no afternoon break, so no ciggie til I leave. wish i cud work somewhere that you get that many ciggie breaks!!

Firetrap

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

gpjordanf1

Firetrap wrote: »

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

Think I remember something about working in front of a computer your supposed to take a 5-10 min break every hour. Something about health & safety, I was about to doze off at the time so I'm not sure. Thats the excuse I used when I smoked, but it wasn't every hour though! And yes nobody works full tilt all day every day!

joeduggan

Firetrap wrote: »

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

i couldnt agree with u more firetrap

geranimojess

alannologo wrote: »

I wonder if I was to stand up every hour and say hey im just going down the car park to stand and chat for 7 minutes would this be looked at as acceptable from my boss or is it a rule that I must give myself cancer while doing it?

im fed up of this smoker being able to get around and hours extra a day of free time because of there habit.

It started off as a habit now it's a sickness, just be Thankful you have not got it.

sweatingbullets

cute_cow wrote: »

i am a smoker and i get a ten minute break in the morning, which everyone does, and then lunch and that's it, no afternoon break, so no ciggie til I leave. wish i cud work somewhere that you get that many ciggie breaks!!

cute-cow you should get a job at a trade counter like me....smoke break every hour...and being in a recession seeing as its not to busy i can sneak two or three in an hour,on avarage i spend 40-45 mins a day takin smoke breaks....pretty sweet:D

Firetrap

Firetrap wrote: »

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

And all smokers never do any of this? Seems more likely they do all of the above AND have smoking breaks...

cute_cow

sweatingbullets wrote: »

cute-cow you should get a job at a trade counter like me....smoke break every hour...and being in a recession seeing as its not to busy i can sneak two or three in an hour,on avarage i spend 40-45 mins a day takin smoke breaks....pretty sweet:D

see thats what I need - any openings?!?

nayorleck114

alannologo wrote: »

I wonder if I was to stand up every hour and say hey im just going down the car park to stand and chat for 7 minutes would this be looked at as acceptable from my boss or is it a rule that I must give myself cancer while doing it?

im fed up of this smoker being able to get around and hours extra a day of free time because of there habit.

I am in a team of 20 people, 2 of them smoke and they are the most unproductive of the lot. They are always trying to get away for a smoke, (which means 10mins as the hut is 5 mins away). Why should managers make allowances for smokes!? Also the smell of them when they come back!. help help those who have to sit beside them.

indough

bluewolf wrote: »

And all smokers never do any of this? Seems more likely they do all of the above AND have smoking breaks...

but if theyre not working anyway what does it matter whether theyre on a smoke break or surfing the internet

sweatingbullets

cute_cow wrote: »

see thats what I need - any openings?!?

no,unfortunately not at the moment,ill give ya shout if anything does though.;)

barling

Solved many a coding problem in the smoking shed (breather for some time to think) for a major multinational while passing Project Managers (Engineers Spokespeople to be precise) stuck online reading papers a lot on my way out to the 'hut'..

X-Calibre

Never really bothered me. I'm in a workplace where about 60-70% smoke and some of them take a smoke break every hour. I've never had any trouble from management with me getting up and making tea every hour and taking about 5 minutes while I'm at it. Just take a tea/coffee break instead of a smoke break

herya

indough wrote: »

what does it matter whether theyre on a smoke break or surfing the internet

Because they do both. I used to work with smokers. It's not like they are picture perfect employees when back from their breaks, they waste time like any average Joe and take frequent extra breaks.

the_syco

I'm a smoker, and I work with smokers. Some lads started to take the piss, so management sent around an email saying he noticed this, and to stop it, and it did. Manager is not a smoker. I've found that in places where the manager is a smoker, there is often a poor enforcement of the smoke-break time limits.

When I'm smoking (I don't smoke on gym days), I'd have one on my morning 15, and one or two on the evening 15, and maybe one at lunch. As does everyone else.

If management enforced the time you should take on your break, what you describe would happen less.

matrim

I'm a smoker and I think it depends on the person. I'd normally take a shorter lunch break so that I have time to go for a smoke in the morning and evening while still on "lunch" time. Also as was mentioned by barling I don't really switch off when I go for a smoke, I'd normally still be thinking about what I was working on and alot of the time the quick break from the PC could be good for coming up with ideas for how to solve a problem.

But I have worked with people who have taken the piss with smoke breaks and gone for long lunches and then gone for a smoke break at every opportunity.

I think it's down to attitude, if you've a good work attitude you'll work your smoke breaks into your schedule and keep them to a minimum, but if you don't you'll try to get away with as much as management allow

qwertz

gpjordanf1 wrote: »

Think I remember something about working in front of a computer your supposed to take a 5-10 min break every hour. Something about health & safety, I was about to doze off at the time so I'm not sure. Thats the excuse I used when I smoked, but it wasn't every hour though! And yes nobody works full tilt all day every day!

IIRC you are to be given the opportunity to do work away from the screen. I don't remember if the employer has an obligation to enforce that or not.

indough

herya wrote: »

Because they do both. I used to work with smokers. It's not like they are picture perfect employees when back from their breaks, they waste time like any average Joe and take frequent extra breaks.

but it doesnt matter that they do both perhaps they dont waste any more time than non smokers but choose to waste their time in a different way than you

ie say in one hour you spend 15 mins doing your own thing on the internet, they may spend 10 mins smoking and 5 mins on the internet

the point being that you dont actually have a clue that theyre wasting more time than you because they smoke, you just presume they do

doolox

In most workplaces comparative labour analysis is a one-way street to bitterness, jealousy and disharmony, things bosses dread more than a missed hour or so a day on breaks for tea, a smoke, a chat etc which on the surface appear to waste time but in reality oil the wheels of industry and keep the entire show on the road.
I once worked in a company where you had to arrange cover to go to the toilet because of the intensive nature of the work, electronic assembly repair and debug on a continuous flow line.The work never stopped. It got so bad that meetings were viewed with dread because you would have to work faster when you returned to make up for the time away from the line and no allowance was made in the production runs for time spent away from the line by anybody. Absences were a nightmare because the people present had to make up the slack for those absent and smoke breaks were very rare.
Any break by anybody was viewed with suspicion and jealousy by the other workers and the overall atmosphere was tense and difficult.
The debug and repair portion was pu under new management after about 3 years of this way of working and taken offline. Techs were actually allowed time to gather all info on a problem and allowed time to analyse failures. Debug effectiveness and repair effectiveness improved as a result and things were much better from a time management point of view.
While there are some jobs where it is difficult to remove workers from the frontline of having to face constant and immediate calls on the time and attention at all times while they are at work, receptionists, waiters and barpersons come to mind as do police,security etc.. the workload should be balanced by some time away from the frontline doing background work to allow the worker some self paced work which is less demanding than customer paced or machine paced work.
The overall achievement over a week is what should be looked at rather than the hour by hour performance.

herya

indough wrote: »

but it doesnt matter that they do both perhaps they dont waste any more time than non smokers but choose to waste their time in a different way than you

ie say in one hour you spend 15 mins doing your own thing on the internet, they may spend 10 mins smoking and 5 mins on the internet

the point being that you dont actually have a clue that theyre wasting more time than you because they smoke, you just presume they do

I do have a clue, you can see what other people in the room are doing quite clearly. The ones I worked with were absolutely convinced that smoking gives them free time on top of what everybody has, not instead.

They spent much more time not working than non smokers - in your comparison they would have some time "doing their own thing" (comparable to others) and extra 10 minutes smoking. Plus their smoking time was sacred - "I can't do it now I'm going for a smoke" 5 minutes beforehand - and they would spend extra time e-mailing each other to check if it's time for a smoke already.

One of the lads was let go and his time management was one of the issues (sneaking out to smoke), the rest was much better for a while but then went back to what it was like before.

Eoin

I'd hate to work somewhere where management, and even moreso, colleagues watched other peoples' time like little despots, rather than just concentrating on the work they actually produce.

John Mason

well, i am a smoker and the way i see it. at 11am my whole office takes a 40 min. coffee break in the kitchen (they have combined their morning and afternoon breaks togehter).

smokers are not allow this tea break so if i want to have a smoke every hour - i will.

Hey OP, if that is you in our building writing down our names and times what we have a smoke - i say to you "HAVE YOU NOTHING BETTER TO DO WITH YOUR TIME?"

Why dont you go around the whole and check who is on the internet or talking or hiding out in the kitchens.

Hagar

Firetrap wrote: »

I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make?

How may minutes per hour? Five or six perhaps? That's 10% of the working day. There's people taking pay cuts of 10% percent because of the recession. That 10% cut might not be needed if 10% productivity wasn't being lost.

Firetrap wrote: »

How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

Wouldn't the smokers do those things as well?

Doodee

you're clearly not busy enough if your able to calculate the smoke breaks taken by others.

I do not see what the issue is, I'm a former smoker and I used to use that time as a break from work, did the same thing in college when studying. Everybody has different habbits and to assume that they are doing less work than you is silly. Sure you're posting on an internet message board.

herya

eoin wrote: »

I'd hate to work somewhere where management, and even moreso, colleagues watched other peoples' time like little despots, rather than just concentrating on the work they actually produce.

IF they produce.

Smoke strictly on your lunch/tea break and it's fine with me but the people I worked with used their breaks for their lunch/tea and took extra smoke breaks.

I just have issues with people demanding extra time off at work (which in the course of a year may equal whole days off - multiply three 5-10 minutes breaks a day by the number of working days) due to the habit which is their strictly personal choice. I exercise a lot and love to travel but I don't get days off for this.

And the paycheck is the same.

Doodee

Hagar wrote: »

How may minutes per hour? Five or six perhaps? That's 10% of the working day. There's people taking pay cuts of 10% percent because of the recession. That 10% cut might not be needed if 10% productivity wasn't being lost.


Wouldn't the smokers do those things as well?

you see the problem there is that you are assuming we live in a perfect world. Even if your workforce was made up of non-smokers there is still no guarantee of that extra 10%.

herya

Doodee wrote: »

Everybody has different habbits and to assume that they are doing less work than you is silly.

I didn't assume, I knew - if somebody is out for a good while and "prepares" to go out in a group a good while beforehand it's pretty much obvious what they do and what their mind is on. And believe me it's not like they made an effort to be extra productive to make up.

Doodee

herya wrote: »

I didn't assume, I knew - if somebody is out for a good while and "prepares" to go out in a group a good while beforehand it's pretty much obvious what they do and what their mind is on. And believe me it's not like they made an effort to be extra productive to make up.

well, firstly how do you know?

secondly, if they aren't making their SLA's or Targets then it would be obvious to their managers and it is up to them to take action.

I agree with what has been said about it being a thing of attitude rather than their choice to smoke. I do not see any issues with smoke breaks, just as i would not hold it against someone to use the bathroom longer than normal or make tea, or even just walk out to get fresh air.

Eoin

Hagar wrote: »

How may minutes per hour? Five or six perhaps? That's 10% of the working day. There's people taking pay cuts of 10% percent because of the recession. That 10% cut might not be needed if 10% productivity wasn't being lost.

You and other people seem to be assuming that time not at the desk is time wasted. Jobs with a creative or problem solving element to them can mean taking a break from staring at a computer screen can lead to being more productive. I know smokers and non-smokers alike who will take a few minutes away to do exactly this.

Mr. Presentable

Firetrap wrote: »

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

This chart shows what only 5 minutes each day can cost your employer per year:


Hourly rate 10 employees 25 employees 50 employees
€10.00 €2,166.00 €5,416.00 €10,832.00
€15.00 €3,250.00 €8,126.00 €16,252.00
€20.00 €5,416.00 €10,832.00 €21,664.00

Surprising, eh? I get smokers to clock out/in from the building. Purely for Health and Safety reasons. Of course they don't get paid when off-site.

kida

Doodee wrote: »

you see the problem there is that you are assuming we live in a perfect world. Even if your workforce was made up of non-smokers there is still no guarantee of that extra 10%.

more likely though

herya

Doodee wrote: »

well, firstly how do you know?

Don't you know anything about people you work with?

And no it was not to get their creative juices flowing either, not much creativity about that job/their conversations.

Yup I might be biased because all the smokers I worked with were absolutely set on abusing the thing (en masse), plus they also expected everybody else to cover for them if seniors are looking for them, take their calls etc.

Wishbone Ash

I have a few smokers on my staff. I don't really mind them taking an occasional smoking break but I ask that they do it seperately. If I'm not around, they tend to go out together. This makes it difficult for me when I'm negotiating with my boss for extra staff. He's very quick to tell me that he spotted three or four of them out smoking!

I don't think they are any less productive. If anything they are much easier to work with that the 'poor me' types who are always looking for problems.

cornbb

In my last job we had 2 sanctioned breaks, 15 mins in the morning and 15 in the afternoon. I went out for a smoke at each break, which only took about 5 mins, so in fact we usually didn't even take the full time that was allowed. If someone is going out for 5-10 smokes per day then that is taking the piss obviously. But then again if I was an employer I'd be far more pissed off at someone on boards.ie then I would at someone who nips out for the odd smoke...

Try to measure actual financial losses like that is all well and good nipplenuts but its not very fair unless you compare it to time lost for people pulling sickies, sending texts, browsing the web etc etc, as well as taking into account the fact that a lot of people do unpaid work (anwering phonecalls/emails) in the evenings and weekends too. Productivity can't be accurately measured in hours/minutes. As someone else pointed out, just because someone is at their desk looking at a screen doesn't mean that they're more productive than someone out having a smoke or sitting on the toilet.

Hellrazer

nipplenuts wrote: »

Surprising, eh? I get smokers to clock out/in from the building. Purely for Health and Safety reasons. Of course they don't get paid when off-site.

Do you also dock the "tea break" takers aswell?

We`d a similar problem in a previous job (btw Im a smoker)

The smokers were taking a 5 min break every hour or so but then there were the "tea break" takers who were making a fresh cuppa every hour.

One anal bloke decided to track both and it turned out that by the time the kettle boiled and the tea was made the "tea breakers" were wasting the same amount of time as the smokers.

Mr. Presentable

Hellrazer wrote: »

Do you also dock the "tea break" takers aswell?

We`d a similar problem in a previous job (btw Im a smoker)

The smokers were taking a 5 min break every hour or so but then there were the "tea break" takers who were making a fresh cuppa every hour.

One anal bloke decided to track both and it turned out that by the time the kettle boiled and the tea was made the "tea breakers" were wasting the same amount of time as the smokers.

You see, there are two designated tea breaks, a morning 20 and an afternoon 15 minute. For which the company pay, and for which the staff stay on the premises. The smokers also take these breaks. We are not talking here about squeezing every minute of productivity from the employee, just the recognition that the company has to produce for everyone to get paid. And if some are seen to be less so..........

By the way. Your example of a smoker: 5 minutes every hour is generously 30 minutes a day, and at minimum wage, with 10 smokers costs the company about €10,000.00 per year.

Doodee

nipplenuts wrote: »

You see, there are two designated tea breaks, a morning 20 and an afternoon 15 minute. For which the company pay, and for which the staff stay on the premises. The smokers also take these breaks. We are not talking here about squeezing every minute of productivity from the employee, just the recognition that the company has to produce for everyone to get paid. And if some are seen to be less so..........

By the way. Your example of a smoker: 5 minutes every hour is generously 30 minutes a day, and at minimum wage, with 10 smokers costs the company about €10,000.00 per year.

do you have a measure for staring into space?
That would be much too hard to identify of course.

Again, it is probably industry specific, but if the smokers were not thinking about work whilst smoking then it would just be the same as an employee at a desk, not thinking about work.

Hellrazer

nipplenuts wrote: »

By the way. Your example of a smoker: 5 minutes every hour is generously 30 minutes a day, and at minimum wage, with 10 smokers costs the company about €10,000.00 per year.

I agree 100% with you that it costs the company money--the point I was trying to make was that if you have an employee that makes a cup of tea or coffee every hour(we have them here) they are losing the same amount for the company.

What we did in the last place was to give each of the trade counter lads a cordless phone.That way they could answer the phone from where ever they were in the building including the smoking area.Solved the problem overnight because they were still seen to be working even if they were just grabbing a quick smoke and in all fairness most of the calls were of the type "do you have such and such in stock" which the lads would know without checking the computers.

In my current job there is an outright ban on smoking except for designated break times.

Blazer

Being a smoker is great.
On average I'd smoke about 10 cigs during my workday.
8 of these would be outside of normal breaks which means an extra 80 mins break for me

Worst thing was when I gave them up..the day was so much longer.

herya

Sc@recrow wrote: »

Being a smoker is great.
On average I'd smoke about 10 cigs during my workday.
8 of these would be outside of normal breaks which means an extra 80 mins break for me

Ah yeah that's exactly what I had in mind, sounds like my colleagues.

Kudos for giving up though.

herya

Doodee wrote: »

do you have a measure for staring into space?
That would be much too hard to identify of course.

You're assuming that staring into space and smoking are mutually exclusive.

Eoin

Doodee wrote: »

Again, it is probably industry specific, but if the smokers were not thinking about work whilst smoking then it would just be the same as an employee at a desk, not thinking about work.

It is absolutely industry specific. Maybe lots of people here work in environments where they are micromanaged, and don't have any autonomy.

If you work in an environment where they trust you to produce what you are paid for, and can manage your own time, then all this is a complete non-issue.

herya

eoin wrote: »

If you work in an environment where they trust you to produce what you are paid for, and can manage your own time, then all this is a complete non-issue.

Agree. If you're in a standalone position you can plan your smoking/eating/chatting whichever way you prefer as long as you meet your targets.

But it's not a standard.

po0k

herya wrote: »

You're assuming that staring into space and smoking are mutually exclusive.

Teh ironings.

And you're assuming they're not, and that 'staring into space' or changing your focus for a few minutes isn't beneficial.

As for tea/coffee, well it seems that one stimulant is sanctioned and the other is looked upon disprovingly.

People taking several (5+) long (5mins+) smoke breaks during the day is taking the piss in my eyes if they aren't getting the work done.
The same would apply for someone making 4 or 5 cups of tea and taking 10minutes each.

"Get the work done, get paid or get out"

Bloody whingebags.

Eoin

Not even a standalone position. I work as part of a team, but am treated like an adult and am trusted to manage my own time and produce what I paid to do.

Doodee

eoin wrote: »

Not even a standalone position. I work as part of a team, but am treated like an adult and am trusted to manage my own time and produce what I paid to do.

Likewise, as are most of the people in this company. none have been sanctioned for smoking.

WIZE

Doodee wrote: »

Likewise, as are most of the people in this company. none have been sanctioned for smoking.

I go for a smoke in work I would say every 2 hours and noone seems to have an issue with it once I tell them where I am going .

givyjoe81

Firetrap wrote: »

I can't stand smoking but I think you're being a bit harsh on the smokers. How many workers really do work full tilt all day long from the minute they come in until they go home again in the evening? I agree that a break every hour is a bit much but in the grand scale of things, what difference is those few minutes every hour going to make? How many non-smokers do non-work related things during their day like surfing the internet, sending texts, extending their tea-break a little bit, chatting to workmates or otherwise wasting some time.

Yeah, cept smokers also take these 'slacker' breaks as well as the cancer breaks during the day! The difference is about 120 hours per year, thats 3 weeks effin pay for smoking!

(5 minutes x 6 smoke breaks per day=30 mins x 5 days per week= 150 mins per week/2.5 hours x 48 weeks per year= 120 hours a year!!)

Now not every one takes six per day, but iv seen/known plenty who do.

MysticalRain

In most offices I worked in, smokers were generally responsible with their smoke breaks. There was one job where the boss had to crack down on people going outside in gangs of 2-3 and taking 10 minutes instead of the usual 5.

I don't see the point of equivocating smoking breaks with people taking coffee breaks etc. Most smokers I know do both. So you can't really take that into account.

Firetrap

It still goes back to my original argument. How much time in the working day does a person work to their full capacity? Yes, smokers can take the mickey by going on too many breaks but so too can the non smokers. Far more important than timing toilet breaks/coffee breaks/smoke breaks/idle chat is the question of whether people are getting their work done. If someone can do an hour's work in 45 minutes and needs a 15 minute break, is that any worse than someone doing an hour's work in an hour?