As a modern employer, you have a responsibility to be inclusive for your staff. Anybody who works with you should feel like they have their rights and freedoms respected, and not to be discriminated against because you don’t agree with a particular choice that they make.
Smoking is quite controversial. Some people consider it to be a relic of the past, whereas others understand that it is people’s choice to smoke cigarettes. Fitting smoking shelters help to create a positive atmosphere and have many other benefits.
Inclusivity
The modern workplace has got to be an inclusive one. You have to recognise that every person is different, everyone has different tastes and ideas about what life should be like, and it is the job of the modern employer to carefully balance out everybody’s needs and requirements and create a happy medium.
Fitting smoking shelters into your premises is a sign of inclusivity. You are promoting the idea that regardless of your personal feelings towards smoking, staff are free to do so if they wish. You have even provided them with a designated area, as so to be considerate of everybody else. It is the best of both worlds in terms of a solution.
Reputation
The average business will often trade on its reputation. It is the way in which people view the business, and the opinions they have of it that determine how frequently customers and clients will visit. If your premises stinks of cigarette smoke, and there is a trace of it in the air, or a slight haze because people smoke indoors, it will cause serious issues.
By creating a designated smoking area, and fitting a smoking shelter, you are helping to uphold the reputation of your company and your premises. Staff and even the general public are free to use the smoking shelter far away from everybody else, so the smell does not cause offence, and there are no dangers of health risks.
Public Health and Safety
It is your job as an employer to look after public health and safety. Your staff are within their rights to smoke, but if this poses a threat to health and safety, it will understandably bring you into conflict with them. Creating a designated smoking shelter means that public health and safety is kept as the top priority.
Your staff can freely smoke away from everybody else, there is no danger of a fire hazard from a cigarette in the building, and the public feels safe coming onto the premises.
In conclusion, these are just a few of the different reasons why you should consider fitting a smoking shelter for your staff. It is important to be inclusive, yet considerate of the needs of others, and regardless of your personal feelings, you must be objective in how you provide resources. A smoking shelter will help to give staff a designated area to smoke, as well as protect the public from harm.