Smokers waste a year of work on ciggie breaks

London, Feb 28 : An average smoker wastes almost a year having fag breaks at work, a poll has revealed.

Three 15-minute smoking breaks a day cost employers 195 working hours a year for each worker.

That's a remarkable 8,677 hours in the average 44-year working lifetime - or nearly a whole year smoking instead of working.

Even the smoking ban has not helped to reduce the number of employees smoking, with 69 per cent continuing to light up - but now traveling further from their desks to find a place to do so.

"The results will be annoying for employers - who are essentially paying people to puff away," The Sun quoted John Sewell, from onepoll.com, as saying.

"And it will also irritate nonsmokers, who wouldn't get away with taking three 15-minute coffee breaks every day," he added.

ANI