Smoke Break Cost Calculator (Cost to Company)

Estimate wages allocated to specified paid smoke-break time. Three ten-minute breaks on each of 240 working days total 120 hours, equivalent to three 40-hour weeks. This calculation does not measure lost output, health costs or an employee’s productivity.

How to use this tool

1. Enter how long a smoke break takes, walk included, and how many there are per day.
2. If smokers use the normal break allowance, enter those minutes to count only the extra time.
3. Enter the hourly wage or annual salary, working hours, days and days off.
4. Add employer on-costs if you want the full cost, and the number of smokers.

Formula

Yearly cost = max(0, break minutes × breaks − allowance) × working days ÷ 60 × hourly cost

Working days = 52 × days per week − days off. For a salary, the hourly rate is salary ÷ (52 × days per week × hours per day), because salary also pays for holidays. Hourly cost = hourly rate × (1 + on-costs ÷ 100).

Example

An employee on $52,000 a year works 8 hours, 5 days a week: $52,000 ÷ 2,080 = $25 an hour. Three 10-minute breaks are 30 minutes a day, and with 20 days off there are 240 working days, so 120 hours a year. With 20% on-costs each smoker's breaks cost 120 × $30 = $3,600 a year, and five smokers cost $18,000.