Reason to quit: non-smoking employees of a Japanese company were encouraged with a six-day vacation
Tokyo-based marketing company Piala Inc. has given its non-smoking employees an additional six days of paid leave after they complained that they work more than those who smoke in their free time.
Indignation among employees without a bad habit has grown because the company's head office is located on the 29th floor. Every time to smoke a cigarette, the smoker had to go down, so each smoke break lasted about 15 minutes.
To date, about 30 of the company's 120 employees have received additional days off. Hirotaka Matsushima does not smoke himself and used his extra vacation to go to the resort with his family. Thanks to the new incentive system, four employees of the company quit smoking.
According to the World Health Organization, 21.7% of Japanese people smoke, this figure is higher among men and the older generation. Japanese companies are making efforts to protect employees from passive smoking. Some organizations have already banned smoking in offices.