Japanese Companies And University To Stop Hiring Smokers For New Positions

In recent years, many countries have been taking initiatives to cut down the number of smokers in their countries, and no one is better at this than Japan as the whole nation has come together to create a smoke-free, clean, and modern environment for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

According to Daily Mail, a Japanese firm named SoftBank will be banning its workers from smoking during working hours regardless of whether they’re within the company premises or not. The new company policy will start with it being implemented on the last Friday of each month, and from October onwards, Wednesdays too will be included as non-smoking days.

However, the company has no plans to penalise those who disobey the new rule at the moment, adding that the offenders will most likely receive a firm warning from management. Currently, employees who need to take a smoke break are still allowed to light up in designated spaces.

Meanwhile, another Japanese company will only be hiring non-smokers for new positions and potential candidates will be required to disclose whether or not they smoke. This effort is to help the Japanese government in reducing the number of smokers from the current 17.7% to 12% by 2020.

Also, Nagasaki University has recently announced that the university will not be hiring professors or teachers who smoke. However, exemptions can be made if they promise to quit smoking after being hired. This policy is unheard of and certainly has never been practiced by any state-run university before.

“Our job as a university is to nurture human resources, and we feel obliged to discourage people from smoking as some companies have begun not to recruit smokers,” Shigeru Kono, president of the university said. 

Do you think such a ban would work for Malaysians? Let us know what you think in the comments! 

 

Also read: Japan Bans Smokers From Taking Elevators for 45 Minutes After Ciggie Break