So pay-as-you-break. I wonder how much will be the pricelist. £1 for a cigarette break, £2 for a coffee break, £5 for a dump. How come the business world is becoming so stupid? Of course, break in front of a computer playing solitaire or typing an email to your friend will be free. I wonder what's the next step? Reintroducing the whips?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html
In increasingly desperate moves to reduce labour costs, German economists are considering how employers can avoid paying workers in cigarette and tea breaks.
Employees could be forced to carry time cards and stamp themselves in and out when they leave their workplace for a smoke or drink so that, at the end of the month, the time they spent away from work could be totted up.
Under the proposal, the wages for that time would then be withheld. Norbert Walter, head economist at Deutsche Bank, said that restricting pay to time actually worked would reduce labour costs dramatically. "Those who want to smoke and drink tea should be able to continue doing so. But no one should expect that the employer should pay for their breaks," he said.
Some estimates say that some employees would stand to lose up to a month's wages each year. While the proposal has no official backing yet, it has sparked a debate in Germany and won the support of some senior political figures.
Michael Fuchs, an economics expert with the opposition CDU party who owns a company in Holland with 500 employees, has already decided not to pay those who smoke on his firm's time. "It's not fair to non-smokers when smokers continue to be paid during their breaks," he said. ''Where possible, smokers should register their breaks with time cards.'' But in Germany, where trade unions remain powerful, supporters of the idea could face strong opposition. Klaus Brandner, economic policy spokesman for the governing Social Democrats, said: "The parties concerned should check whether it makes sense to cut paid breaks.''
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was forced into a climbdown last week after proposing to abolish the Oct 3 national holiday, which marks the reunification.
Germany's new president, Horst Koehler, in effect slapped him down in public and, having failed to check his idea with coalition partners, the Greens, Mr Schroder had to abandon the idea.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.../ixportal.html
In increasingly desperate moves to reduce labour costs, German economists are considering how employers can avoid paying workers in cigarette and tea breaks.
Employees could be forced to carry time cards and stamp themselves in and out when they leave their workplace for a smoke or drink so that, at the end of the month, the time they spent away from work could be totted up.
Under the proposal, the wages for that time would then be withheld. Norbert Walter, head economist at Deutsche Bank, said that restricting pay to time actually worked would reduce labour costs dramatically. "Those who want to smoke and drink tea should be able to continue doing so. But no one should expect that the employer should pay for their breaks," he said.
Some estimates say that some employees would stand to lose up to a month's wages each year. While the proposal has no official backing yet, it has sparked a debate in Germany and won the support of some senior political figures.
Michael Fuchs, an economics expert with the opposition CDU party who owns a company in Holland with 500 employees, has already decided not to pay those who smoke on his firm's time. "It's not fair to non-smokers when smokers continue to be paid during their breaks," he said. ''Where possible, smokers should register their breaks with time cards.'' But in Germany, where trade unions remain powerful, supporters of the idea could face strong opposition. Klaus Brandner, economic policy spokesman for the governing Social Democrats, said: "The parties concerned should check whether it makes sense to cut paid breaks.''
Chancellor Gerhard Schröder was forced into a climbdown last week after proposing to abolish the Oct 3 national holiday, which marks the reunification.
Germany's new president, Horst Koehler, in effect slapped him down in public and, having failed to check his idea with coalition partners, the Greens, Mr Schroder had to abandon the idea.
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