Smoking in the workplace costs a Japanese employee 11000 USD
The Japanese official in question, a 61-year-old company director, apparently took too many breaks to smoke cigarettes at his workplace. According to his employer's records, he took more than 4,500 breaks over a 14-year period.
Smoking in the workplace costs a Japanese employee 11000 USD
Smoking is harmful to health. It affects physical health, financial health, and also relationship health.
That the Japanese do not tolerate smoking is a well-known fact. People have had mixed reactions after authorities recently fined an employee for taking too many smoking breaks.
The Japanese official in question, a 61-year-old company director, apparently took too many breaks to smoke cigarettes at his workplace. According to his employer’s records, he took more than 4,500 breaks over a 14-year period.
He spent more than 355 hours of his duty time smoking and is being asked to pay a fine of $11,000.
The employer warned the employee and his two colleagues several times, but they did not heed and now face a 10 percent pay cut for six months.
According to media reports, the HR department was informed anonymously last year that the three employees were secretly hoarding and smoking tobacco.
Although they were warned by their supervisor of the negative consequences, the three did not change their behavior.
Osaka has a total ban on smoking in government offices and public places. This ban has been in place for over 15 years. About four years ago, Osaka enacted a ban to prevent government employees from smoking while on duty.
The high rank of the employee who violated the ban seems to make the ‘crime‘ even more serious. He was accused of violating the regulations and ordered to repay 1.44 million yen in addition to a pay cut.
However, many believe that this was too harsh a punishment because even tea/coffee breaks during working hours keep employees away from their work and desks. So it is not fair to punish someone for smoking breaks.
In 2017, when non-smoking employees at Japanese company Piala Inc. complained to the company that they were working more than their smoking colleagues, the marketing firm came up with a unique solution to the problem.
It granted the non-smoking employees six extra vacation days per year to compensate for the time smokers needed to take cigarette breaks.
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