Research published today claims that smoking breaks cost UK employers £8.3 bn per year, with individual smokers costing a business £1,458.60 a year.
On the back of this, and according to an email I have seen, "e-cigarette brand Vapestick are piloting a brand new programme and are calling on employers to allow e-cigarette use in the workplace and ban smoking breaks to alleviate this cost".
According to the actual press release:
Not only do smoking breaks have health implications for employees and cost implications for a business, but they can also impact the cleanliness of outside spaces. E-cigarettes offer a nicotine-containing solution for smokers that doesn't require a trip outside and that doesn’t leave behind unsightly cigarette butts or the lingering smell of tobacco.
Cloudamour, one of the businesses that has taken part in the 'Vaping in the Workplace' programme, has now banned cigarette breaks during working hours "to increase productivity".
Mitchell Feldman, CEO of Cloudamour, said: "We now actively encourage all smokers within our workforce to vape at their desks instead of taking cigarette breaks outside.
"We've also noticed that our staff concentrate more in meetings because they're not thinking about their next cigarette break and [it] goes without saying that our outside areas are cleaner than most and staff don't smell of tobacco.
We actually don't allow employees to take time out during the working day for cigarette breaks now and even subsidise our staff's Vapestick purchases to encourage our team to stop smoking altogether and vape instead."
The press release continues:
Michael Clapper, co-founder of Vapestick, Chairman of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association (ECITA) and President-International at Victory Electronic Cigarettes Corporation said:
"At Vapestick we are calling on all employers to actively encourage smokers to use e-cigarettes in the workplace, in order to reduce smoking breaks, which not only have serious financial implications but also of course damage the health of employees."
A decade ago I remember commenting on workplace initiatives that effectively forced smokers to go on smoking cessation programmes. If I remember, employers were also encouraged to subsidise or even give staff free nicotine patches.
'Vaping in the Workplace' is just another smoking cessation programme based on the dubious claim that smokers who take three cigarette breaks a day are costing their employer, on average, £5.61 per day.
What's interesting is that Vapestick, whose founder is chairman of the Electronic Cigarette Industry Trade Association, are not just promoting their brand of e-cigarette, they are actively encouraging the prohibition of smoking during the working day.
Commercially it might make sense. In the greater scheme of things, it stinks.
Anyway, this was Forest's response:
"All workers are entitled to a break and a smoking break gives many smokers a chance to think and refocus. Far from costing their employer money, it can be time well spent.
"Electronic cigarettes offer a useful alternative to smoking and there are some very good arguments why employers should tolerate their use in and around the workplace.
"However, making ludicrous claims about how much smoking breaks cost employers will not endear smokers to this particular company.
"E-cigarettes are a great invention but insulting your target audience, many of whom are dual users of both devices, is a funny way to market a product."