Oh you Smoke? Employers getting strict on hiring Smokers.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I guess so, but if productivity turns out to be the same between the two, does it matter that much?

Not in my opinion. If a person smoking doesn't affect the bottom line it isn't a problem.

I used to smoke. Not so much at work because I didn't like my office stinking like smoke. But I don't think my productivity was any different than my co-workers when I did smoke at work.

I could see an argument against hiring smokers if they're the client-facing employees. If you're interacting with customers you should be professional and presentable. That includes smelling good.

Like plyon said, if I was buying a car and the salesman got into the car with me and reeked of smoke I'd be annoyed and "new car" experience would be tarnished. Same with servers at restaurants.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by KTrain

Not in my opinion. If a person smoking doesn't affect the bottom line it isn't a problem.

.

The only smoker in my office has the highest production......hey wait a minute those lazy MoFo non-smokers....

[Weiser Wonder]

Originally Posted by valo403

That would be wonderful, unfortunately it does not reflect the reality of the vast majority of businesses and vast majority of industries. Things need to get done, and not when people feel like doing them.

Things will still get done if workers are treated as human beings that need to decompress for 10 minutes every hour.

[Hatter]

When I smoked I was often self conscious of my smoke breaks and actively tried to work harder to mitigate the effects. I'm sure there are lots of smokers who do the same.

I've since quit, but don't have problems with smokers at work. In fact, I'd probably support anyone wanting to take 5 minutes per hour to relax and clear their head.

[KTrain]

Originally Posted by Hatter

When I smoked I was often self conscious of my smoke breaks and actively tried to work harder to mitigate the effects. I'm sure there are lots of smokers who do the same.

Worse than smoker smell are the ladies who smoke and then try to cover the smell with perfume.

[Burninator]

Originally Posted by The Yen Man

I guess so, but if productivity turns out to be the same between the two, does it matter that much?

IMO it largely depends on the job. My example earlier was from when I worked in a kitchen. The nature of the job doesn't allow for you to leave the line for 10 minutes if there are orders up. It's not like you can make orders ahead of time that haven't come up or catch up on orders after you come back as you would put the whole kitchen behind. Plus not getting a break when smokers would get a couple was frustrating but honestly speaks more to management than smokers.

[Nage Waza]

Originally Posted by AFireInside

I make it a point to try and not pay attention or monitor what my coworkers are doing and how many breaks they take.
I have my work, they have theirs, and it's never ending so why bother worrying about it.
It's going to depend on the job though. If it's labor intensive and you have to carry others while they smoke, that can get annoying. Still though if they don't smoke you're likely still doing the same work if they are there or not, so does it really matter?
I guess something customer service related could be annoying if it gets busy.
As for the original topic, I think it's a little silly, people need to stop being so over dramatic about smokers and the related annoyances.
For the record I don't smoke and never have.

Based on what you wrote, I take it you haven't been in a position of management?
I have had one staff member that 'must' go for a smoke right before the team has to meet delaying everyone, another smoker that had more sick days than everyone else combined, another smoker that had a near death smoking related 'illness' and another smoker that goes for smoke breaks with the other smokers which leads to assorted gossip/conflict related issues between the smokers. While all this is taking place, the staff that don't smoke either sit there and work or get frustrated they are sitting there and working while someone else is either sick that day or busy smoking. And then the smokers start congregating with other smokers...it just goes on and on. You hire a new person that smokes? They start hanging with the smokers and repeat the cycle.

Those people I have worked with that exercise regularly? I rarely see any issues at all. There are countless studies about smoking and how it is bad for you, and this includes how it affects you at work.

I can't blame companies for thinking of ways to avoid hiring smokers, there really is nothing but upside to it.

[moon]

Well people can go back and forth with personal stories about good workers and bad workers who smoked but it seems that there are enough on both sides to indicate that perhaps the fact is like every other kind of group there are good workers who smoke and bad workers who smoke and (possibly outside certain types of jobs) smoking really doesn't matter all that much when it comes to workers at all.

From my experience smokers have been no different from other workers and I have worked with a ton of lazy non-smokers and some hard working smokers. I am not going to attribute that hard work to their smoking so seems silly to blame laziness on smoking.

I imagine for the most part that saying smokers are sick more tends to be a case of people noticing the sick days more because they already are angry/bitter/resentful towards smokers.

[Bootsy]

I think companies would be better off not hiring people who waste all their time worrying about what their co-workers are doing and how many breaks they take rather than if a person smokes or not.