Japanese Company Gives Non-Smokers Extra Vacation Days To Compensate For Cigarette Breaks

October 31, 2017

A Japanese company is giving its non-smoking staff an additional six days of paid vacation a year to make up for the time off smokers take for cigarette breaks.

Marketing firm Piala Inc introduced the new benefit in September after non-smokers complained they were working more than their colleagues who smoked.

"One of our non-smoking staff put a message in the company suggestion box earlier in the year saying that smoking breaks were causing problems," Piala spokesperson Hirotaka Matsushima told The Telegraph.

Following the suggestion, the company's CEO Takao Asuka decided to give non-smoking employees extra time off to compensate, Matsushima said.

Asuka says he hopes the scheme will create an incentive for the rest of the staff to quit smoking.