If you need urgent support, call 999 or go to your nearest A&E. To contact our Crisis Messenger (open 24/7) text THEMIX to 85258.
Options
Council to ban cigarette breaks
Former Member
Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
Take a look around and enjoy reading the discussions. If you'd like to join in, it's really easy to register and then you'll be able to post. If you'd like to learn what this place is all about, head here.
Comments
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
I told my ex employer I was a smoker, because why shouldn't I get a break?
my point was, non smokers dont get the equivalent of a smoke break, if they did, maybe they wouldnt mind as much
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Chances are that smokers will do that in addition to have a quick 10 minute smoking break.
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
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.
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.
Ok, fair play... but my next point will answer what I think of this.
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.
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.
Indeed.
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.
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.
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:
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:
do u stop when u pee?
when you make a brew?