Employees of the large Japanese investment bank Nomura are not allowed to smoke during working hours. This rule applies from October even if they work from home. Nomura says it assumes mutual trust and will not check whether employees are complying with the regulation.
“There must be a work environment in which everyone is healthy and energetic so that employees can get the most out of themselves,” Bloomberg News said in a statement. Nomura will also close all smoking areas within the company before the end of the year. She also recommends staying away from the office for at least 45 minutes after smoking during lunch or breaks to prevent “secondhand smoke.”
The investment bank wants to encourage employees to quit smoking. The percentage of company employees who smoke was 20 percent in March 2020 and should be around 12 percent by 2025. Nomura has been providing employees with financial aid to help quit smoking since 2017.
More Japanese companies are taking measures to discourage employees from smoking. For example, snack maker Calbee actually banned employees from smoking during office hours in 2018. The health of employees and their families was seen as essential to the company’s growth. Ajinomoto food processor banned its employees from smoking during office hours in 2019.
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