Professor Gary Martin, CEO the Australian Institute of Management WA, about the vexing matter smokers in the workplace causing resentment from their non-smoking workmates.

 

They are a dying breed, the last remaining smokers. They assemble unceremoniously like outcasts on the pavement outside office blocks and next to carparks around the country.

 

And they’re still under fire, with a survey by Willis Towers Watson finding that half the workers surveyed believe smoking breaks cause resentment among non-smoking colleagues.

 

This appears to stem from the fact smokers are often automatically excused while others feel they need to justify taking regular breaks. 

 

Now some bosses won’t hire smokers and claim they are unhealthier, take more sick days and create an organisational image of ill-health.

 

But is it fair to ban smokers from the workplace?