A Tokyo-based business gave employees that did not smoke six additional holidays per year to make up for the time their colleagues spent on cigarette breaks.<br /><br />Piala, an online commerce consulting and marketing company, started the initiative in September 2017 and after an employee complained about the amount of time other staff members spent on their breaks.<br /><br />“Because our office incentive 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,” Hirotaka Matsushima, a company spokesman told AFP.<br /><br />Matsushima said that Piala wanted to reward people who didn’t smoke rather than punishing those who did.<br /><br />Such was the incentive of the extra holiday that since the start of the programme on September 1, four employees out of 42 smokers have kicked the habit. <br /><br />If they successfully stop for a year they’ll also receive six days off, according to Matsushima.<br /><br />Unlike most of Europe, Japan still has some areas in restaurants where smoking is permitted, however, most companies in Japan have banned smoking in the workplace.<br />
