Company gives non-smokers paid leave to make up for lack of smoke breaks

If there was ever an incentive to quit, this is it.

Ever wondered why your work colleagues who smoke manage to swing those short breaks every few hours? Yeah, us too. Sure, they've got those sweet, sweet nicotine cravings, but what about the rest of us? We've got cravings too. Mainly for toasted cheese sandwiches and litres of coffee but that doesn't make our addiction any less valid, alright? One company, however, has recognised the plight of us non-smoker folk and given smokers a very good incentive to quit while they're at it. By offering paid leave to employees who don't smoke to make up for all of the smoking breaks they don't take. Genius. Piala Inc, a Japanese company, is giving non-smoker six extra paid leave days every year. The Telegraph has reported that their spokesperson, Hirotaka Matsushima, has said the idea came from an employee who was disgruntled that their coworkers were getting an extra 15 minutes break just because they 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. "Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate."

Piala's CEO, Takao Asuka, has also said that he introduced the paid leave to encourage smokers to quit too. And seeing as it means an extra six days off, we're guessing that it's probably working.