58 percent workers think 'smoking breaks' are unfair

More than half of workers dislike colleagues who go out for a cigarette and think that the time should come out of their salaries, a survey has revealed.

A total of 58 percent are angry over "unfair" breaks while just one in four think that smokers should be paid the same.

However, 16 percent of people surveyed said that their colleagues should only be paid less if taking more breaks lowered their productivity.

The survey carried out by consumer website Watch My Wallet, was done during Stoptober, the initiative to quit cigarettes over 28 days this month.

"We were stunned. It's amazing to think that a majority of the country is silently seething about the amount of time smokers spend away from their desks," the Daily Express quoted Watch My Wallet spokesman Sean O'Meara as saying.

Amanda Sandford, of anti-smoking charity Ash, said that smokers should have shorter lunchtimes or stay late.

But Simon Clark, of the smokers' lobby group Forest, said taking time out for a cigarette was no different to taking coffee breaks or making personal calls.

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