More than €5 billion annually: That is the yearly cost of cigarette breaks for employers in France, including overseas territories, according to Jobleads, which released an analysis on the topic on Tuesday, March 17.
The job portal calculated this figure by factoring in, for each region or territory, additional sources and studies such as tobacco consumption, employee numbers, smoking rates, average break duration and salaries. This approach carries a risk of approximation: For example, to assess the time spent smoking at the workplace, Jobleads relied on a YouGov study conducted not in France, but in the United Kingdom.
Still, the study is noteworthy, and by combining the data, it arrives at a total exceeding €5 billion. Cigarette breaks constitute unproductive time "that can also interrupt workflow and reduce concentration," commented Jan Hendrik von Ahlen, co-founder and managing director of Jobleads.
Increased cost
He is not the first to examine the subject. Back in 2013, an American study published in the journal Tobacco Control, which included breaks as well as absenteeism due to poorer health, estimated that a smoker cost their employer nearly $6,000 (about €5,240) more per year than a non-smoker.
