I’ve gotta admit that it’s pretty annoying when you see your colleagues go out for a cigarette when they should be working, but having said that it’s not really that much different from someone taking an extra long dump or making the tea – it’s just a bit more noticeable and not universal.

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One company over in Japan though has recognised this phenomenon and introduced a new policy in order to try and retain office harmony, although it’s likely that it might screw things up even more because it’s so extreme. That’s because marketing firm Piala have decided to compensate non-smokers with six extra holiday days to make up for all the breaks that the smokers are taking during the day.

Before you scream about how outrageous this is, bear this in mind. Piala are located on the 28th floor of a building and smokers have to travel to the basement every time they want to light one up, meaning that smoke breaks could often take around 15 minutes. That’s probably losing an hour of work every day, which is about a day a month, so when you think about it like that six days is actually pretty lenient.

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Company spokesman Hirotaka Matsushima explained the policy:

One of our non-smoking staff put a message in the company suggestion box earlier in the year saying that smoking breaks were causing problem. Our CEO saw the comment and agreed, so we are giving non-smokers some extra time off to compensate.

I mean yeah, in this case I can’t really not agree, although I bet the smokers in the company are pretty miffed about it. Maybe it will encourage them to quit though, which can only be a good thing, right? Doubt they’ll feel the same way but hey.

For more smokers, check out this video that shows you what your lungs look like after smoking just one pack of cigarettes. Gross.