Smoking Breaks At Work

AliFlump | 13:34 Tue 02nd Dec 2014 | Jobs & Education

51 Answers

Hi. As far as I can tell there is no legal requirement for an employer to allow smoking breaks. As a non smoker in an office of non smokers it's not an issue. However a new employee who smokes has started and goes for one every hour. We feel this is unfair as we have our one hour lunch with no other breaks while the smoker gets their one hour lunch and 5-10 mins every hour to go outside and smoke. We are going to raise this to HR. Anyone else had experience of this? Thanks

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AlwaysConfused

A few of my workers pop out for ciggies, but they tend to skip their lunch break. I find that I get more productivity out of the smokers as they will work twice as hard to make up for time lost. I have more problems with the non-smokers as they tend to lose more time through chatting.

-Talbot-

Do you smoke, AlwaysC?

AliFlump

Question Author

Thanks for your answers. My workplace doesn't work in that there is x amount of work to be done in the day, it can be very busy at some points and steady away at others. The way I see it is that we are always at our desk or in the workplace and available for work should something else be required to be done. If you are not physically in the in the workplace then you're not.

Agree that if i went outside for 10 mins every hour to have a few games of candy crush, this would not be excepted. Also agree that If I was to leave work everyday 40 mins early this would not be accepted.

I've asked the question in the interests of fairness

We did think about getting e cigs hehe, but it's cold this time of year!! (Also brings up the idea of having 5 mins in the sun in summer but that's by the by for now!!!)

Thanks again for your opinions, I'll let my colleagues know

ToraToraTora

how do they even get jobs?

bednobs

at my work, there is absolutely no smoking on hte premises, and that includes the grounds - smokers have to walk over to the nearby park to smoke

EDDIE51

Smoking in the workplace is illegal. All the places I have worked since the no smoking rules came in say that if you wish to smoke it has to be outside the workplace and only during designated breaks, ie meal breaks, no extra breaks allowed.

sue11

Hi Aliflump, I agree with your thoughts. I see the a smoke break and a coffee/chat break as two different things. If you are outside the office having a cigarette you are effectively out of the work place and unable to process your work, but most coffee/chats take place within the workplace and people are still able to process their work.
Also I guess that the smokers will also be taking coffee/tea and chat breaks as well as the smoke breaks, I would be very surprised to hear otherwise.
I agree that smokers who take breaks out of the office should be made to do so in their own time.
I used to work in an office that had flex time. Most smokers would clock off for their smoke break in the allowed flex time which was before 10am, 12 to 2:30 and after 4pm, the vast majority managed to fit their smoke breaks within these times, so it was not really a problem for management.
I now run my own business and we have had to stop staff taking smoke breaks on work time as it is unfair on those who do not smoke. All staff take coffee breaks on work time and of course will stop to have a chat from time to time!

Svejk

///All staff take coffee breaks on work time and of course will stop to have a chat from time to time! ///

^Lol, they wouldn't on any job I ever worked on.

Prudie

Eddie I would clarify that smoking inside the workplace is illegal. We are quite entitled to smoke in the regulation shelters outside, even if it's on the grounds, if your company provides that facility.