“Smoking might harm your employability!” says voucher website selling e-cigarettes
Along with shortening your life, smoking can also shorten your working hours, according to new research in the media:
How cigarette breaks add up to a whole week off work every year as smokers spend 45 minutes per day outside
Smokers who nip out of the office for fag breaks work a whole week less than their non-smoking colleagues each year, research shows.
Every day smokers spend an average of 45 minutes away from their work, which adds up to nearly four hours per week.
To the everyday reader, it’s hard to sell this as a downside – take up smoking, and you’ll get an extra annual week off work. Sounds like a sweet deal. Who’s selling it?
Over a year this amounts to smokers working seven fewer days than their colleagues who do not smoke, according to a study for Voucher Codes Pro.
Given that Voucher Codes Pro don’t offer vouchers for discount on cigarettes, it’s not immediately apparent what the angle here is – especially when Voucher Codes Pro offer deals on e-cigarettes, aimed at getting people to quit smoking and lose their annual extra work-free week. Yet, within a few paragraphs, the angle appears:
George Charles, marketing director of Voucher Codes Pro, said employers might think twice about hiring smokers due to the amount of time they spend not working.
‘The subject of employing smokers is an undoubtedly controversial one, but clearly one that needs to be highlighted looking at the results of our study,’ he said.
‘Whilst it could be argued that there are many different reasons as to why employees may need to take time out of work, it is not surprising that many employers would be wary of hiring smokers if they are going to be using more than 170 hours a year feeding their habit.’
And there it is – potential employers might (illegally) take your smoking habits into account when choosing to offer you a job, so maybe you should visit George’s voucher website to kick your filthy habit before you’re entirely unemployable.