Stub it out! Smoking breaks are bad for business

Frequent cigarette breaks are costing companies time and money, writes Aimee Stanton

It’s likely your boss wouldn’t think twice if you stepped away from the desk to make a quick cup of tea, but if you’re a smoker and take regular breaks, your habit could be costing your employer time and money.

Legally, workers have the right to one uninterrupted 20-minute break during a working day (over six hours).

However, unless a contract specifically states it, workers are not actually entitled to take smoking breaks. It’s really down to the employer’s discretion whether smokers can nip out for an unofficial break.

There may be fewer people smoking in Britain than ever before (around 9.1 million adult smokers) according to Action on Smoking and Health (ASH), but unofficial smoking breaks remain a controversial issue with employers.

For example, a study by The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) for the British Heart Foundation (2014) found that UK businesses lose around £8.7 billion and 136 hours of working time every year as a result of cigarette breaks.

And although businesses must display ‘no smoking’ signs in the workplace and ensure people don’t smoke in enclosed work spaces or shared vehicles, there’s far more employers could do to help their staff kick the habit.

Deborah Arnott, chief executive of ASH explains: “Employers can do a lot to help their employees quit smoking, and it’s in their interests to do so. Smokers not only lose time through smoking breaks, they also take more time off sick.

“By providing support and encouragement, including where possible onsite help to quit, employers can improve the health and wellbeing of their staff while creating a more profitable and productive workplace.”

Employers can help staff to kick the habit by following ASH’s stop smoking at work advice:

■ Publicise the interventions identified in this guidance and make information on local stop smoking support services widely available at work. This information should include details on the type of help available, when and where, and how to access the services.

■ Be responsive to individual needs and preferences. Where feasible, and where there is sufficient demand, provide on-site stop smoking support.

■ Allow staff to attend smoking cessation services during working hours without loss of pay.

■ Develop a smoking cessation policy in collaboration with staff and their representatives as one element of an overall smokefree workplace policy.

“Employers can do a lot to help their employees quit smoking, and it’s in their interest to do so.”

Deborah Arnott Chief Executive, ASH