A: It is common for smokers to be given extra breaks during their working time in order to indulge in smoking a cigarette; however, it is not surprising that non-smokers are unhappy about it.
To foster a harmonious working environment, you should treat all employees equally to avoid giving them something to complain about. Creating two tiers of workforce can be divisive and lead to grievances being submitted from employees who feel particularly upset about the issue. They may complain that they are picking up the slack of the staff who are allowed this extra break, having to answer their phone calls and deal with queries that come through. Your leniency towards staff who have a nicotine addiction has now landed you with a problem.
However, what you are effectively doing is reducing the working hours for those employees who smoke while others remain on the full working hours. Basically, you are allowing a paid break to some of your staff for no particular reason, while leaving others out.
To call a halt to further complaints, you may need to consider stopping the smokers from having the break. There is no statutory entitlement to it, after all, though it may be that it is a term of the employees’ contracts of employment that you allow them to take this time away from their work. But even if it is not a written term, it could be argued that it has become an implied term, that is, the fact that you have allowed it to happen for so long has created a term within their employment that they are entitled to expect.
You will need to communicate your intentions to your employees and explain why you need to withdraw the breaks. To soften the blow, you may have to consider offering another kind of incentive to staff.
Alternatively, you may want to reach a compromise, which means asking those who take time during the day for a smoking break to make up the time later in the day. This way, your employees are still able to take the break that they have been used to and your productivity is not affected because you still get a full working day from each employee. Or, to fully even out the entitlement, allow all staff a five minute break whether they smoke or not. It is commonly thought that stepping away from your workstation for a short time can provide the space needed to come up with a solution to a problem that has been bugging you all day.
Peter Done is managing director of Peninsula
