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Council to ban cigarette breaks

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  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Should this be in P & D?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i can understand why non smokers get annoyed, like where i work, people who smoke nip out for a fag, yeah they may only be out there 3 minutes, but add that up throughout the day.....

    non smokers dont get to just walk outside for a breath of fresh air

    however, i think banning it, can be damaging to work productivity...although i`m not a smoker myself, i know what its like when i`m hungry at work, if i cant have anything to eat, all i`m thinking about is how hungry i am, and what i`m gonna eat on my lunch, i presume it`d be the same, if not worse for smokers, who are gagging for a fag but cant have one

    tough subject
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i don't smoke but i think smokers should be allowed to pop out for a cig when they want it. the same as i would expect to be able to pop out for a breath of fresh air if i needed it or go grab a drink. its important to have a work environment where you are happy and relaxed. banning this will just make people feel like they're having their liberties taken.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Littleali wrote:
    non smokers dont get to just walk outside for a breath of fresh air
    Maybe they would if they were told they could.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    My department at uni hasn't banned cigarette breaks, but you get no more break time a day if you smoke than if you don't. Those who want to go out for a drag have to take shorter lunch breaks.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Either ban the cigarette breaks or give non smokers equal opportunities to have a break every hour.

    I told my ex employer I was a smoker, because why shouldn't I get a break?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    i work at tesco and we've recently become a non-smoking store (e.g. in the staff area aswell). they carried out a ballott and most people wanted it banning so it got banned. i think it's a good idea. they used to have a smoking area in the canteen area but it's still a confined room so you could still smell it even sat in the non-smoking area. now they have to go outside - and on a sunday there isn't anyone at the staff entrance to let you back in so 2 of them go together and one of them lets them in while the other has a fag! i don't think people should specifically be allowed fag breaks, they should have them in the normal break they're entitled to.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    lea_uk wrote:
    Maybe they would if they were told they could.
    that wasnt the point i was making

    my point was, non smokers dont get the equivalent of a smoke break, if they did, maybe they wouldnt mind as much
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Littleali wrote:
    that wasnt the point i was making

    my point was, non smokers dont get the equivalent of a smoke break, if they did, maybe they wouldnt mind as much
    Well we get second hand smoke for free. :D j/k
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Smokers and non smokers at my work place are allowed 5 mins in the morning and 5 mins in the afternoon, on top of their breaks to do with what they please.
    I'm sick of all these restrictions coming out. Yes to a degree I think smoking should be banned in public places but this is getting ridiculous. Your employer doesn't own you!
    OK if they are saying you have to stick to your break times and nothing else and that goes for everyone. I haven't properly read it yet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Some jobs need you to be there at a certain time smoker or no. You can't pop of a till and decide you need a smoke break.

    Plenty of other office jobs don't actually need you to be there at a certain time or not, as long as the work gets done. So, if your a non-smoker why not nip outside for five minutes or go on the internet.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I don't agree with it at all, but am completely unsurprised. It was only a matter of time.

    Speaking from past experience, if I'm hankering after a cigarette and not [fairly immediately] able to have one then I would have a one-track mind until I did get a smoke break. Obviously they aren't so bothered about it effecting worker productivity in that way, rather choosing to focus on literal minutes spent at a desk, timesheets et al. Fair enough, but I think it's daft, overly restrictive and has its own unique flaws.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    It should be job specific. I can't see the harm in two 5 minute breaks a day to stave off a craving if there's no real consequence. It's much better than having an unproductive worker doing next to nothing for two hours because he/she really needs a fag and has to wait till lunch.

    As long as it's down reasonably and you're not using it to skive off work - which I'm sure most don't - then it's OK by me.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have no problem with this proposal, they are there to work.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have no problem with this proposal, they are there to work.

    You make it sound like people should walk into work, heads down, no talking and be like that till they leave...
    I work far harder and get far more work done at the company i'm at now than I have any other place I have worked because there is a very relaxed view. I could go out for 10 fag breaks a day if I wanted (I dont by the way)
    If I was to just stop working and have a chat with some one for 5 mins then fine...
    At the end of the day as long as I get all the work done then its fine. and I think as long as people are getting the work done thats required of them then this is the best view to have.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Obviously depends on the kind of working environment but smokers and non-smokers should overall take the same amount of breaks. If non-smokers can still take a tea break but smokers can't have a cigarette break it would obviously be unfair. The whole problem of cigarette breaks would of course be ended if people were allowed to smoke at their desk but I guess that's not allowed now. Although if somebody has an individual office they should be allowed to smoke in it.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    JamesZero wrote:
    I work far harder and get far more work done at the company i'm at now than I have any other place I have worked because there is a very relaxed view. I could go out for 10 fag breaks a day if I wanted (I dont by the way)

    I don't smoke at work. I'm there to get my job done, smoking is not part of that being able to talk to my colleagues is.
    If I was to just stop working and have a chat with some one for 5 mins then fine...

    Chances are that smokers will do that in addition to have a quick 10 minute smoking break.
    At the end of the day as long as I get all the work done then its fine.

    There is that, but as a boss I would want to know how you can manage to find 20 mins (or so) in a day to smoke. Clearly I haven't given you enough work ;)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have no problem with this proposal, they are there to work.

    Christ, MoK I'm glad I don't work for you. Do you allow people to talk or go for a coffee or spend five minutes trying to arrange a gas check on their house. If it is allowed what's the difference and DH needs to look at moving into modern management practices.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    There is that, but as a boss I would want to know how you can manage to find 20 mins (or so) in a day to smoke. Clearly I haven't given you enough work ;)

    I'm not sure people should suffer from your poor management :thumb:

    On a more serious note, people who have small breaks tend to be more productive. It allows you a chance to have a think away from hammering on your keyboard.

    Also by smoking I get to talk with a lot more people than just those who sit next to me. I've actually found it useful to be having a cig at the same time as someone from the Private Office who can give me some unofficial feedback on Minister's views or have a word with someone from finance on a problem we're having with making a payment.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Chances are that smokers will do that in addition to have a quick 10 minute smoking break.

    Ok, fair play... but my next point will answer what I think of this.
    There is that, but as a boss I would want to know how you can manage to find 20 mins (or so) in a day to smoke. Clearly I haven't given you enough work ;)

    I totally see where your coming from, but when people work, they will genreally work at an avarage pace to get done what needs to be done.
    I would rather have the freedom to be able to go and smoke when I please or take a short break for whatever reason if your a non smoker.
    Then put in that much more effort when I come back to make up for it.
    Ok, not everyone is going to do this... but in my work I will basically come in and know what jobs I need to have finished by the end of the day... ragardless of weather rush them like a mad man or I work at a normal pace.
    Thats where I get the view from that as long as the work is done, who cares how your doing it.
    I see why this isnt going to work for all jobs. So I suppose as other people have said, banning smoking breaks should be subjective to the job you do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    On a more serious note, people who have small breaks tend to be more productive. It allows you a chance to have a think away from hammering on your keyboard.

    I very much agree with this actually. Sometimes when things are getting really stressful, the best thing to do is walk away for 5 mins. Dont even think about what your supposed to be doing. Weather this involves having a fag in that time or not is irellivant really...

    Then go back to it and carry on alot calmer. 9 times out of 10 you will be more productive and wonder what you were stressing about.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I have no problem with this proposal, they are there to work.

    Indeed.
    You make it sound like people should walk into work, heads down, no talking and be like that till they leave...

    He does have a point though. You're there to work, not have a fag as and when it suits you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote:
    He does have a point though. You're there to work, not have a fag as and when it suits you.

    And who cares as long as you produce the work whether you stopped and had a cig break halfway through or not. You get better results from most people if you set what they have to do and let them then get on with it, not treating them like children.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    A lot of the time people are allowed to go for a quick fag break, but people who don't smoke get penalised because they just want to spend 5mins doing nothing,like everyone else is.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    At the moment my business pays out its staff for over an hour each day per smoker for the amount of 5 and 10 minute fag breaks they take through the day. As a result we have no had to introduce a policy of a 15 minute morning break and a 15 minute afternoon break plus a 30 minute lunch break inbetween and those are the only times people can leave the shop to smoke. Otherwise they are getting paid (not small money) for standing around smoking while all the non-smokers have to work harder to cover the shop while they are absent.

    It is only because they are letting the others at work down by taking so many fag breaks in day and simply not earning the money they are being paid that we are having to do this all of a sudden.

    Personally, my opinion on it is that smoking breaks shoulod NOT be banned, just designated to certain times when staff and workers can stop to smoke, so no one person takes more time off in a break then another, such as a non-smoker. As far as the employer is concerned, if they feel they are losing money as a result, it is up to them to implement their own policy on the matter, after all, it is not their fault people get addicted to smoking, but it is their responsibilty to implement a workable system for breaks that is fair.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote:
    He does have a point though. You're there to work, not have a fag as and when it suits you.
    well going with your theory....

    you go to work to work, not drink tea

    you go there to work, not natter with a collegue

    you go there to natter, not go the toilet

    you go there to work, not send a snide text....
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Littleali wrote:
    well going with your theory....

    you go to work to work, not drink tea

    you go there to work, not natter with a collegue

    you go there to natter, not go the toilet

    you go there to work, not send a snide text....

    :rolleyes:

    No, my theory is that you go to work and have breaks, but have a natter whilst you're working. Or have you not heard of multitasking?:rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote:
    :rolleyes:

    No, my theory is that you go to work and have breaks, but have a natter whilst you're working. Or have you not heard of multitasking?:rolleyes:
    some people get so involved in convo, they stop working....

    u cant pee while u work...

    u cant go make a cup of tea while at your desk....

    :rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Littleali wrote:
    some people get so involved in convo, they stop working....

    u cant pee while u work...

    u cant go make a cup of tea while at your desk....

    :rolleyes:

    I don't stop working when I'm talking.:rolleyes:
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Sofie wrote:
    I don't stop working when I'm talking.:rolleyes:
    u dont, some people do....

    do u stop when u pee?

    when you make a brew?
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