Going for Smoke Breaks at work


Well said Purple, I personally think too many people are paying attention to what everybody else is doing in the office - don't let the small stuff bother you!
 
Niallers said:
Do they dock you or ask you to make up the time or do they turn a blind eye to it?
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On flexi time, so we have to work a certain number of hours every month. So time spent on smoke breaks has to be made up by staying later, or coming in earlier etc
 
Pre smoking ban I remember working in two different offices. I used to smoke then too, in the first my boss chain smoked and I practically did too, only stopping when a client came in. In the second the boss banned smoking in the office. Even better the only access to the rear of the building was through his office where he had a clear view of the back yard from his desk. I always thought that in itself was a pretty effective disincentive to taking smoking breaks...needless to say a smoking break was very very rarely taken, really only when boss was out.
 
I used to work with a guy who didn't smoke or drink tea/coffee so he would take a 10 minute 'glass of milk' break a couple of times a day!

In my current office there are no official breaks other than lunch but the smokers generally go for 1 mid morning and 1 mid afternoon smoke, taking max 10 mins at a time.

Everyone in the office takes a few short breaks during the day for tea, coffee or a bit of friendly banter with co-workers.

This informal approach works quite well and, the odd time a person may abuse this system (either by numerous/prolonged smoke breaks or numerous/prolonged coffee breaks or chatting) a friendly word usually rights things.

If you are really annoyed about this OP you should make a stand and take similar breaks as the smokers, but just make sure you are working hard the rest of the time in case someone in looking over your shoulder!
 
Smokers, due to their (and my) addiction, ensure that they work hard enough to allow time to feed their addiction, and therefore will output in 50 minutes what their non-smoking colleagues output in an hour. It's all about "getting the work done". If I was not outputting the work that my non-smoking colleagues were, i would have heard about it by now.

The griping by non-smokers (those that resent smokers for their habit) is nothing more than begrudgery. Indeed, I would point out that, certainly in my experience, non-smokers are perfectly entitled to go outside for 6-7 minutes and breath fresh air if they so wish. The best reason I have heard is that they have no desire to do so as they would have nothing to do while standing there. Hence their preference to stay at their desks.
 

There is an international process measuring tool called Admistrative Productivity Training (APT). This methodology, which is used widely in the UK and Europe, measures work processes and resources needed to carry them out, and cites a "relaxation factor" of 16.67% allowed for the likes of above. I don't know how this figure was arrived at, but it obviously reflects some officially accepted level of "dossing" (BTW, this is for clerical type work)
 
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