Should smokers be deducted pay for smoke breaks?

wes · 12-10-2015 12:43PM

As long as there not taking the piss, i see no reason why they people shouldn't take a smoking or coffee break.

Strumms · 12-10-2015 12:45PM

As a non smoker.. i am entitled to a lunch break of one hour and 15 mins in the morning and afternoon. Smokers take those breaks and probably 4 additional throughout the day. The problem and why it goes without anything being said is that a lot of managment also smoke so it suits them to let it roll. People dont have to clock out either. Some people are unbelievable and will be guaranteed to be out there whenever you pass the door going from one office to the other... one manager i can think of is desperate for it... if you cant make it through the day smoking at your designated break time then you are unfit for work / duty simples...

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 12:46PM

Knex. wrote: »

I don't smoke and I have absolutely no issue with people taking breaks to pop out for a cigarette.

It is in no way a representation of their work ethic, or their ability to get their job done.

Sure here we are posting on boards.

Of course it is. They're not getting the job done because they're outside having a smoke.

I'm amazed that smoke breaks are still tolerated in 2015. I worked with a graphic designer who took a 10-minute smoke break every hour. It was an absolute joke.

Posting on Boards is different because you're in front of a laptop. Your employer has no idea what you're doing. Going for a smoke break is a very open way of showing you have downed tools. I can't believe there isn't more of a stigma for people who openly do that in front of their fellow employees and employer.

My name is URL · 12-10-2015 12:48PM

wes wrote: »

As long as there not taking the piss, i see no reason why they people shouldn't take a smoking or coffee break.

They can take a piss on their own time!

Knex* · 12-10-2015 12:48PM

speedboatchase wrote: »

Of course it is. They're not getting the job done because they're outside having a smoke.

I'm amazed that smoke breaks are still tolerated in 2015. I worked with a graphic designer who took a 10-minute smoke break every hour. It was an absolute joke.

And I work with one smoker who is probably by far the best worker in our entire office.

Smoking doesn't define your work ethic or capabilities.

SEPT 23 1989 · 12-10-2015 12:50PM

speedboatchase wrote: »

I'm amazed that smoke breaks are still tolerated in 2015. I worked with a graphic designer who took a 10-minute smoke break every hour. It was an absolute joke.

A designer cannot design properly if they are not relaxed

My name is URL · 12-10-2015 12:51PM

Haznat wrote: »

Are coffee breaks still a thing?

I think so though I'm not sure they're specifically intended as coffee breaks. 5 minute breaks 3-4 times per day generally aren't uncommon, what people do in that time is up to them be it go for a coffee, a shit or a smoke.

The Sidewards Man · 12-10-2015 12:51PM

No smoking, drip feed food and adult nappies should be compulsory in the work place.

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 12:59PM

Knex. wrote: »

And I work with one smoker who is probably by far the best worker in our entire office.

Smoking doesn't define your work ethic or capabilities.

The act of smoking doesn't, but the act of regularly leaving your desk for whatever reason has an effect. I don't distinguish between someone who smokes or someone who doesn't but leaves constantly to make tea or coffee. If you have two designers on the same wage and fairly equal capabilities - for example, a smoker and non-smoker - is it fair that they leave at the same time when one has left their post for maybe 30-40 mins each day, and the other hasn't?

duffman3833 · 12-10-2015 12:59PM

i would be up for stopping smoke breaks. But my way around it is to take tea breaks instead and take just as long so 10 min to make a cuppa, makes it fair

brevity · 12-10-2015 01:02PM

speedboatchase wrote: »

The act of smoking doesn't, but the act of regularly leaving your desk for whatever reason has an effect. I don't distinguish between someone who smokes or someone who doesn't but leaves constantly to make tea or coffee. If you have two designers on the same wage and fairly equal capabilities - for example, a smoker and non-smoker - is it fair that they leave at the same time when one has left their post for maybe 30-40 mins each day, and the other hasn't?

Well it can depend on the role-getting up to think out a problem away from the computer can help people, so in that instance it allows the person to be more productive.

Barely There · 12-10-2015 01:04PM

I manage teams of people.

I'm only worried about them delivering the appropriate quality to the deadlines required.

How long they spend doing it is up to them. I don't really care if someone spends half the day smoking or fapping off in the jacks, - as long as they deliver that's fine.

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 01:04PM

SEPT 23 1989 wrote: »

A designer cannot design properly if they are not relaxed

Just a nonsensical excuse for someone to be openly indulged by their employer. Has nothing to do with smoking and nothing to do with the field they work in.

A sub-editor could tell an employer that they regularly need coffee to keep their imagination flowing or their mind sharp. They'd still be chancing their arm.

rubadub · 12-10-2015 01:05PM

CosmicSmash wrote: »

Nothing I hate more than a non decisive non smoker.

I am a smoker and would think along the same lines as him. He did not say if he smoked or not. You also deleted the end of his quote and added a full stop which now makes it appear like he is contradiciting himself.

I know a girl who said she took smoking back up as she was missing the breaks and gossip.

If smoking only became popular in the last few years it would be utterly ludicrous to request to be able to stroll out to use/abuse highly addicitive recreational psychoactive drugs during worktime -which is what it would be described as.

OU812 · 12-10-2015 01:06PM

Place I used to work allowed non smokers to go early on a friday... Very people took advantage of their smoke breaks...

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 01:07PM

Barely There wrote: »

I manage teams of people.

I'm only worried about them delivering the appropriate quality to the deadlines required.

How long they spend doing it is up to them. I don't really care if someone spends half the day smoking or fapping off in the jacks, - as long as they deliver that's fine.

If your team met a deadline from working 50% of the time and fapping off the other 50%, I'd suggest that was a pretty weak deadline and/or your team is far too big for the task and being used inefficiently.

2Mad2BeMad · 12-10-2015 01:07PM

I have about 3 smoke breaks in my job through out the day. Does not include my break or lunch.
But it does not take me 10 minutes to smoke. 2 to 3 minutes is plenty. 10 minute ones is taking the piss.

But I dont find me taking a smoke break slows down my work. If anything I'm a better worker then all them non smokers who hang around on Facebook all day haha.

It's funny cause non smokers cry over people who go on smoke breaks yet their just as bad surfing the Internet.

Put it this way. I couldn't give a ****e if my fellow non smoker colleagues complained about my smoke breaks. If management is happy with my work then why would I care? You think it's not fair then complain about it.
But fact is life ain't fair.

dundalkfc10 · 12-10-2015 01:12PM

speedboatchase wrote: »

Of course it is. They're not getting the job done because they're outside having a smoke.

I'm amazed that smoke breaks are still tolerated in 2015. I worked with a graphic designer who took a 10-minute smoke break every hour. It was an absolute joke.

Posting on Boards is different because you're in front of a laptop. Your employer has no idea what you're doing. Going for a smoke break is a very open way of showing you have downed tools. I can't believe there isn't more of a stigma for people who openly do that in front of their fellow employees and employer.

So if i sneak out for a fag (pretnding im going toilet etc..., its ok as my employer will have no idea what im doing?

J Mysterio · 12-10-2015 01:16PM

Some ammount of fcking straight edge killjoys in here.

Ive never worked somewhere where 'smoke breaks' are a thing. You just get up, go out, and have a smoke.

People actually resenting others for going out to have a smoke are beneath contempt. Counting the minutes ffs. Little fascists. How about the 10 mins you spent on hello.com or whatever.

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 01:16PM

dundalkfc10 wrote: »

So if i sneak out for a fag (pretnding im going toilet etc..., its ok as my employer will have no idea what im doing?

No, I'm talking exclusively about workplaces that allow smoke breaks, where there would be no need for anyone to make an excuse. I'm saying that I find it baffling that in 2015 there are places (such as my own workplace) where you can openly down tools and walk past your colleagues to go for a smoke whenever you like. The key word is 'openly' - I have no idea when my colleagues are typing on Facebook or if they're doing a work-related task while they're behind a computer.

conorhal · 12-10-2015 01:18PM

Stepping away from my desk for a 5 minute break from a problem restores my sanity and inhances my problem solving skills and thus makes me far more productive then snide whiners on the internet posting begudgery and who in all liklihood waste far more time then I do sitting at their desk on Facebook and other social media.

razorblunt · 12-10-2015 01:19PM

In my place, there's a good few that smoke, 2 maybe 3 times a day outside their lunch break, they normally spend longer going up and down in the lift than they do smoking, it's a get out and get back in asap mentality. The folk who loiter for 10 minutes generally don't tend to do alot of work anyway.

speedboatchase · 12-10-2015 01:19PM

J Mysterio wrote: »

Some ammount of fcking straight edge killjoys in here.

Ive never worked somewhere where 'smoke breaks' are a thing. You just get up, go out, and have a smoke.

People actually resenting others for going out to have a smoke are beneath contempt. Counting the minutes ffs. Little fascists. How about the 10 mins you spent on hello.com or whatever.

Enjoy it while it lasts. In a couple of decades future generations will look at media depictions of smoke breaks in amazement, in the same way that our generation get a kick out of watching the workplace social dynamics and leniency of Mad Men's era.

Kimbot · 12-10-2015 01:20PM

OK if you work on a PC everyday you are entitled to a 5 minute break away from the computer every hour, thats where my smoke breaks are taken

suicide_circus · 12-10-2015 01:23PM

In that case woman should be paid less than men as they tend to take significantly more sick days excluding maternity leave

brevity · 12-10-2015 01:24PM

One second, here, are people saying that there are business that have official smoke breaks?

When I think of a smoke break I think of someone nipping out the back for a minute or two and sneaking back to their desk.

RoyalMarine · 12-10-2015 01:24PM

Barely There wrote: »

I manage teams of people.

I'm only worried about them delivering the appropriate quality to the deadlines required.

How long they spend doing it is up to them. I don't really care if someone spends half the day smoking or fapping off in the jacks, - as long as they deliver that's fine.

Can I come work for you?

Once a week I'll even fap you off instead of myself

brevity · 12-10-2015 01:25PM

suicide_circus wrote: »

In that case woman should be paid less than men as they tend to take significantly more sick days excluding maternity leave

Ahh ffs...

suicide_circus · 12-10-2015 01:28PM

brevity wrote: »

Ahh ffs...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/8534796/Women-take-more-sick-days-than-men.html

Ken Shamrock · 12-10-2015 01:28PM

I have about 5 or 6 5-10 minute smoke breaks per day...If you work In a job that pays a salary It's generally standard practice to have a smoke break,coffee break,jax break etc without having to ask permission like a child.

Should smokers be deducted pay for smoke breaks?

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