[dropcap]S[/dropcap]mokers get, on average, six extra days holiday with the amount of smoke breaks they are entitled to, according to The D4 Clinic in Blackrock.
A psychologist from the clinic has claimed that non-smokers should be given up to six paid days off work to compensate for the time smokers are given smoke breaks.
In Japan, some companies have started to give non-smokers extra, paid time off to allow for them to have the same breaks as smokers.
Psychologist Jason O’Callaghan from The D4 Clinic Blackrock proposed bringing this system to Ireland, in hopes to make up for the work that non-smokers do while smokers are on their breaks.
It is said that non-smokers work up to one month more than smokers as their breaks can take, on average, fifteen minutes.
The College View spoke to students about their opinion on non-smokers getting paid time off to compensate for the smoke breaks they do not take.
“Smokers are given unbelievable breaks, in my old job, you were free to take a smoke break whenever you wanted, so long as you weren’t too busy. I’d say one day, I spent an hour and a half to two hours smoking,” Dave Kelly, a second-year journalism student who works as a kitchen porter, said.
“My co-worker would only smoke during the fifteen-minute paid break that came with the eight-hour shift. I thought this was appropriate as she respected her responsibilities at work and realised that it was necessary for her to be present at work throughout her appointed shift,” Alma Kennedy, a first-year contemporary culture and society student who works in a department store, said.
“I would normally, I’d say on average, get 20 minutes a day of smoke breaks. Where I work, there are only two people who don’t smoke, and I do feel bad because if I went out for a smoke, I know they can’t do that, so I do think there should be an alternative break for them,” Daniel Downing, a genetics and cell biology second-year student working in a restaurant, said.
“I never take breaks when I’m in work so I’m often on my feet for hours at a time and the majority of people I work with smoke, so I’m often left by myself for a bit while they take a break, without getting any sort of break myself,” Aisling Joyce, who studies property economics in second year and works as a bartender, said.
Ellen Fitzpatrick
Image Credit: Highland Rambler