A Japanese company is incentivising its staff to give up smoking by providing non-smokers with six whole days extra holiday per year.
According to staff at marketing firm Piala Inc, based in Tokyo, each cigarette break takes staff at least 15 minutes, due to the fact that the office is based on the 29th floor of an office block.
According to International Business Times, CEO Takao Asuka believes the policy will help employees to quit the unhealthy habit.
“I hope to encourage employees to quit smoking through incentives rather than penalties or coercion”, he said.
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A 2016 survey found that a total of 19.8% of Japanese adults smoke. Although this is reportedly the first time on record the percentage has fallen below 20%, the country still has far more smokers than in the UK, where fewer than one in five (17%) of adults smoke.
Just 30 of the company’s 120 employees have taken advantage of the additional paid holiday since the scheme was introduced.
One of which was employee and spokesperson Hirotaka Matsushima, who used the extra days to have a long weekend away with his family.
“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”, he told The Telegraph.
“Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate.”
He claimed the scheme has encouraged four people to give up smoking, so it looks like this company may be onto something.
12 Undeniable Facts About Smoking
FACT 1(01 of12)
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Every cigarette you smoke reduces your expected life span by 11 minutes. (credit:Jasper White via Getty Images)
FACT 2(02 of12)
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There are roughly 10 million adults who smoke cigarettes in Great Britain. (credit:Bertrand Demee via Getty Images)
FACT 3(03 of12)
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Two-thirds of smokers start before the age 18. (credit:Flying Colours Ltd via Getty Images)
FACT 4(04 of12)
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The proportion of the population who are smokers has decreased since the 1970s. A sixth of the population smoke now, in comparison to nearly half of the adult population smoking in 1974. (credit:Dražen LovriÄ via Getty Images)
FACT 7(05 of12)
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Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds including: carbon monoxide, arsenic, formaldehyde, cyanide, benzene, toluene and acrolein. (credit:murengstockphoto via Getty Images)
FACT 8(06 of12)
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Smoking poses a huge risk to your cardiovascular system.It also steals some of your good cholesterol, increases the risk of clotting and temporarily raises your blood pressure. (credit:Jeffrey Hamilton via Getty Images)
FACT 9(07 of12)
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Immediately after you quit smoking, your lungs and other smoke-damaged organs start to repair themselves. (credit:Oko_SwanOmurphy via Getty Images)
FACT 10(08 of12)
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Smoking is England’s biggest killer. Half of all regular cigarette smokers will eventually be killed by their addiction. (credit:Westend61 via Getty Images)
FACT 11(09 of12)
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100,000 smokers in the UK die every year from smoking related causes. (credit:Shui Ta Shan via Getty Images)
FACT 12(10 of12)
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In 2012-13 the Government earned £12.3 billion in revenue from tobacco tax. (credit:Jasper James via Getty Images)
FACT 13(11 of12)
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Usage of electronic cigarettes has tripled in the past two years. 2.1 million adults in Great Britain now use them. (credit:diego_cervo via Getty Images)
FACT 14(12 of12)
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A report by Dr Robert West of University College London found that e-cigarette use from popular brands is expected to be at least 20 times safer (and probably considerably more so) than smoking tobacco cigarettes. (credit:mangojuicy via Getty Images)