Smoking on the Job - Wayco Wayne

Wayco Wayne

Several Months ago I had had it. I needed my helper to help me with something and he was not availible. I dropped what I was doing and searched the job site and there he was catching a quick drag from his cigarette. I was frustrated and mad and told him right then and there that there was no smoking on the job anymore, ever!!! The past few months have been great. He has not only been available but when he runs out of things to do he keeps looking until he finds something to do and keeps working. I recently gave him a raise to celebrate his jump in productivity. Yesterday however he disappered and you guessed it he was outside catching his nicotine fix. I told him to put it out and come back to work, walking away before I said something stupid in anger. Am I unreasonable to expect him to abstain during working hours? I don't like the smell around him after he smokes, I don't want the smell in my trucks or in the customers house. He's been pretty cool about it. but his fall back yesterday has me wonderig what you all feel about this.

Mark Eatherton1

If you've got 'em...

Wayne, I feel your frustrations. I'm down to one guy that is still a smoker, and you are correct. He chews up about 10% of every hour puffing on a fag. He's not allowed to smoke in a company vehicle nor a customers home and must ask permission to smoke on the customers property. If the HO says no, then he doesn't smoke. I and my fellow employees keep harping on him about quitting. Most of us are former smokers, so we know it can be done.

I'm considering some kind of monetary incentive with strings to get him to quit smoking, like, if you quit I'll increase your pay by the same percentage per hour that you waste in paid labor (10%). If you continue smoking, I'll reduce your pay by the same amount of my paid time that you waste (10%). In his case, he either picks up $2.00 per hour, and I get more production out of him, or he loses $2.00 per hour and my production level remains the same!

I know how hard it is to quit smoking. I had some help. My wife threatened to divorce me if I didn't quit smoking! Kinda reminds me of the joke about the guy who's wife said, Either you quit fishin' or I'm going to leave you... Geeze I'm gonna miss her! NOT. I quit smoking. Maybe I should threaten him with divorcing him from the company eh...

Maybe someone else has a solution to this problem. I know it hurts the other employees moral when they know they're being productive and he's not.

What he does on his own time is his business. What he does on my time is MY business, and I don't remember guaranteeing him the right to waste 10% of every hour...

Frustrated in Denver.

ME





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Mark Eatherton1

More data

check out this link. Maybe if we printed this and gave it to the smokers, they'd get the hint. This came from google.com

ME

http://medicolegal.tripod.com/smokingonthejob.htm

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chuck shaw

my own rules

I am a smoker. And yes, I know what it can do to me. And yes I have tried (unsucessfully so far) to quit. Not only is it an addiction to the nicotine. But it also involves many habbits. Im sure most ex-smokers understand this. Ask your employee to chew nicorette at work. Or better yet, buy him some. I do not smoke in my customers homes, even if invited. So...i use gum durring the work day. I know it would be much easier if I just quit. But...there are times, when I do enjoy a smoke.

Chuck Shaw

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Mason

tobacco

We have enacted a "no tobacco policy" while employees are in uniform. I have even gone so far as to buy employees the patch. Yes I am an ex-user too............

Mason

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Earthfire

PC Smoking

Smoking histeria is insane! NO SMOKING Cussin' or Horseplayin' on a CUSTOMERS property, Period!!!! As for the shop up to the buissness owner. but out on the road and outside of the building. This is America the land of the Free . Even the Communist slaves could smoke under the USSR. Cigarrettes are bad because of one of the components (among others) is bad for you (NICOTINE). So, you want to participate in a diversion of capitol from the cigarette companies to Drug companies. Nicotine Gum , Nicotine Patch , Nicotine balloney, Manufactured and sold by the drug companies with no controls by the government or the sellers on who (KIDS?) or How much is consumed. Nicotin is so bad we have to ban smoking but lets push it on people for the sole purpose of enriching the drug corporations and the politicians that they own.Besides cigarette smokers are GOOD AMERICANS . THEY P A Y a larger amount of taxes then you al gum chompin drug addictts eatin your three packs of gum a day . what the heck New Jersey is raising the tax on a pack sixty cents to help balance the budget, not for health care, They gave up on that lie. If people quit smoking the contry would go Broke . Therefore Non Smokers are UNAMERICAN

Earthfire

PC Smoking

Smoking histeria is insane! NO SMOKING Cussin' or Horseplayin' on a CUSTOMERS property, Period!!!! As for the shop up to the business owner,What the heck that poor slobs cigarette fumes are going to kill everybody ,forget about the cleaning solvents, acetelene fumes ,paints, metal dust ,fungus in the mechanical systems,heat, cold ,concrete,and other sudry hazardous or someday hazardous substances that we live with daily. But out on the road and outside of the building, This is America the land of the Free . Even the Communist slaves could smoke under the USSR. Cigarrettes are bad because of one of the components (among others) is bad for you (NICOTINE). So, you want to participate in a diversion of capitol from the cigarette companies to Drug companies. Nicotine Gum , Nicotine Patch , Nicotine balloney, Manufactured and sold by the drug companies with no controls by the government or the sellers on who (KIDS?) or How much is consumed. Nicotin is so bad we have to ban smoking but lets push it on people for the sole purpose of enriching the drug corporations and the politicians that they own.Besides cigarette smokers are GOOD AMERICANS . THEY PAY a larger amount of taxes then all you gum chompin drug adicts eatin your three packs of gum a day . What the heck New Jersey is raising the tax on a pack sixty cents to help balance the budget, not for health care, They gave up on that lie. If people quit smoking the country would go Broke . Therefore Non Smokers are UNAMERICAN P.S. If you quit more power to you STICK BY YOUR CHOICE but DON'T IMPOSE YOUR RELIGION ON ME.

dave the hammer

Smokers

For years we were all non-smokers. Then I hired a couple of new people that smoked. First they started smoking in the trucks (I corrected them). Then they started throwing their butts in the back of the pickups (I corrected them). Then I gave everyone a company policy handbook (everyone complained, why do we need this?). Then I walked on a job (new house) and found them smoking inside (GC told them it was okay). I corrected them again. One of my guys tracked time wasted during an 8-hour day for smoking. He came up with 45-60 minutes.

John Morrill

what about between jobs?

I have a superb HVAC tech working with me. He's a smart guy and knows better, but that's why they call it an addiction, right?

He smokes between jobs, with occasional breaks from the office when the paperwork is running hot & heavy. I know his mind is still working while he's on the loading dock smoking, and he often runs into other staff & discuss various jobs and construction projects. So I'm hard-pressed to say its truly unproductive time. [I drink too much caffeinated beverage. So I visit the urinal a lot. Just as unproductive.]

Personally I'm a staunch nonsmoker, but I empathize with those hooked, especially when I see they don't use it while actually working with their hands (I'd rather see a 5 min break for smoke than an injury or fouled up job because a butt or ashes got into a place they shouldn't have.)

Sal Santamaura1

Heard a radio story last week

about a small business owner (sorry, can't remember what type of business) in Vermont who only hires non-smokers. Meaning no smoking on or off the job. He makes it a condition of employment. His decision was based on data showing that it costs the employer $1,000 per year more to have a smoker on the payroll than a non-smoker. That figure supposedly includes time lost to butt breaks as well as higher health care expenses.

Riles

fabulous

Andy_3

I have a wholesaler that everybody smokes alot. And I make it a point to never go inside unless I absolutely have to. I have to think that others do the same.

Riles

Thanks

Patrick

How much time did he waste following around the smoker timing him?? How about people who chew?? That is as unhealthy as smoking and can be just as bad on the job site. "Sorry Mrs. HO, I did not mean to tip over my can of spit on your new carpet." How about people that use the cell phone two much, that is a direct hit on the bottom line. Or those that eat all the time, drink coffee, hungover in the morning(talk about a smell), read the paper, talk at the water cooler and what ever else. If it is policy to not smoke on the job that is fine, buit according to labor laws every worker is entitled to breaks and if they choose to smoke then leave them alone. And if you deny them this right you sir will have more trouble than you want. It has become a civliazation of everyone pushing there thought and beliefs on to other people.

Earthfire

drugpusher

wait till one of the patchers decides to go on disability because he's hooked on the patch and gum and all you pushers out there have to pay. Its only a matter of time till some shister lawyer nails one like that down

Dana Zaichkin

Thorny Issues

Some of the issues are quite distinct from each other and it can help (and legally protect you) to think of them separately.

If a employee's smoking on the job site or office affects the image or customer service of your company - this is a job performance issue - assuming that you have a policy and enforce it uniformly

If a employees smoking breaks takes time from his/her productivity beyond breaks and lunch in compliance with wage & hour laws, then you should be able to reduce compensation based on worked hours - be cautious about applying a blanket percentage or a different compensation rate.

I've been involved in incentive-based wellness programs - working under the premise that employees that maintain certain lifestyle habits will reduce the company's safety and health risk exposure (and cost). There can be a battery of measures (often self reported) that after a given period of time can qualify an employee for an incentive bonus. These can include things like tobacco use, wearing seat belts, regular exercise, maintaining weight within normal parameters (or making a % improvement), Cholesterol / Blood pressure within normal limits (or following medical treatment for control), participating in a health risk assessment, etc.

On the other side of the coin is considering a health premium surgharge or disincentive, for employees that use tobacco.

Food for Thought

DZ

Patrick

smoker

I would say that your helper is not a dedicated employee. I am a smoker and I have never left a job or the journeyman I was working with to go have a smoke. When on break or at lunch I look for the designated smoking area. Smoking does not create a bad employee, the employee does. If you have told him up front that he is not to take off and smoke and he still does, how is smoking the cause of HIS action. Is your policy no smoking or no tobacco use at all?? For your sake I hope it is the later of the two.