Posted on: Monday, August 25, 2003

AT WORK
Smoke breaks create bonds but can be hazardous to career

By Dawn Sagario
Des Moines Register

A smoke break is unhealthy, but it could give you more face-time with the boss.

That access offers a chance to share more about yourself, professionally and personally, said Debra Habr, an executive coach in Des Moines, Iowa. Those interactions can work for or against you.

Habr said getting together to smoke at a certain time and place also makes it a social gathering.

The workplace smokers' subculture bonds people, giving them a shared identity, said Jonathan Cheek, a professor of psychology at Wellesley College in Massachusetts. The scene is more laid back, less threatening.

"It becomes like a little club that's formed around being a smoker," Cheek said.

Hierarchical divisions can get blurry during a smoking break. Your boss bums a cig off you and, with a flick of the lighter and that first slow drag, you inhale as equal members of the same clique.

"You really are on a more level footing," said Cheek, who has done research on social identity and personality. A whole new social network grows out of this regular smoking crew, outside the confines of the traditional organizational power structure.

Corporate culture and the who's who of smokers in the organization have an impact on how partakers are viewed, said Cheek, a former smoker. He said no one in the top echelons of his department smokes and there are only a few smokers in the entire building where he works.

"If you're a smoker where it's clearly marginalized and considered low-status, then being identified as a smoker probably won't help your upward mobility," he said. A smoking habit might also put you in an awkward position with co-workers in situations like business-related dinner parties or out-of-town trips.

About three-fourths of U.S. employers limit where their work force can smoke, said Daniel Longo, professor of family and community medicine at the School of Medicine at the University of Missouri in Columbia.

Longo also said that throughout the nation, there continues to be an increased concern over smoking bans in the workplace and how to impose and enforce them.

The value of that face-time with bosses and co-workers is moderate, at best, as employers clamp down on when and where workers can grab a cigarette, said Kevin Leicht, a sociology professor at the University of Iowa.

More legal restrictions and a shift in societal norms highlight the smokers' bond even more, Cheek said.

"The more the restrictions around smoking are applied, those restrictions function to intensify and focus on this sort of group dynamic psychology ... as a brother- and sisterhood," he said.

Habr cautioned that higher-ups have to think twice about the information they share with their employees.

Megan McLean said that smoking used to defuse disagreements she had with a supervisor. Knowing one another as smoking buddies created camaraderie, she said, making her more comfortable in speaking honestly about work problems.

"When you're outside, and it's a break, then you're on the same level," said McLean, 25, who lives in Grand Forks, N.D. "Then suddenly they're not the manager anymore. They're just like you."

Eric Galvan agreed.

He and a supervisor at a former job would take smoking breaks together. The two were best friends.

"She would tell me stuff (about job matters) that she probably shouldn't have," said Galvan, 25. The bond they shared as smokers built a foundation for a better work relationship. "There was more of an environment of honesty," said Galvan.

At his current job, Galvan said, managers rarely smoke with those they supervise, to avoid sharing information they shouldn't.

For a long time, workers weren't allowed to take smoking breaks, Galvan said, and the company offers reimbursements to employees who sign up for quit-smoking treatment programs.

Certain occupations have had reputations for attracting a large number of smokers, said University of Iowa professor Leicht, who does workplace research. He singled out air traffic controllers, police and print journalists. While the number of smokers in the first two groups has declined, print journalists' compulsion to light up remains strong, Leicht said. Smoking might help bridge the age gap, he said. The cigarette-toting newbies get to socialize with the cigarette-toting vets.

The job-related perks to smoking are scant, Leicht said. With skyrocketing corporate healthcare costs, he foresees a day when employers' hiring decisions will hinge on whether you're a smoker.

"Generally, I would say, smoking is a liability and not an asset," Leicht said.