Thwarted smokers are less efficient workers

Smokers who are not allowed to light up at their desks are less efficient and effective employees because the urge to smoke interferes with their ability to be accurate.

Smokers who are not allowed to light up at their desks are less efficient and effective employees because the urge to smoke interferes with their ability to be accurate.

Research shows that for 10 or 15 minutes after people have the urge to smoke, their accuracy drops from 65 per cent to less than 50 per cent.

The authors said that companies could be losing up to an hour a day in productive work if they did not allow their employees to smoke at their desks or in a nearby smoking room. Many companies now operate no-smoking offices, which means that employees have to go outside the building to smoke.

Carol Madden of Florida State University, who conducted the research, said that the urge to smoke may impair different parts of the working memory, which reduce people's ability to be accurate. "Companies could be losing a lot of money because of poor accuracy," she said.