This Japanese firm rewards non-smoker employees to promote productive work culture

Smoking kills and may also reduce your holidays. Know Why. (Source: Thinkstock)

To promote productive work culture and healthy lifestyle, a Japanese company has promised to reward six additional holidays to employees who don’t smoke. Piala, a Tokyo-based online commerce consulting and marketing company, decided to kick-start the programme after an employee complained about the time lost work by smoking colleagues.

An AFP report quoted the company’s spokesman Hirotaka Matsushima as saying, “Because our office is located on the 29th floor it takes at least 10 minutes for a smoker to go down to a common smoking room in the basement and come back”. But at the same time, it’s true that smoking room conversations are mostly about work … they exchange ideas and consult each other,” he said.

According to the report, there are 120 people in the firm and since September 1 when the programme was launched, 4 out of 42 smokers have quit the habit. Most companies in Japan have banned smoking in the workplace and have set up separate smoking rooms. This has helped in bringing a considerable fall in tobacco in Japan, the report said.