Nomura hails progress in weaning staff off smoking

Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

Nomura’s multiyear campaign to stop staff smoking and banish the cigarette break is paying off, as Japan’s biggest brokerage hailed its progress during an annual investor day.

In a 40-page presentation packed with targets for everything from return on equity to growing its wealth management business, Nomura said that at the end of March last year 14.9 per cent of its almost 15,000-strong workforce were smokers, down from 21.4 per cent in 2018.

Tokyo-based Nomura started its effort to combat smoking in 2018, saying that it was designed to improve the health of employees and conditions in the workplace.

Its has closed smoking rooms in offices, subsidised the cost of products that help people quit and sought to kill off the traditional 10-minute cigarette break.

The bank stipulates that anyone breaking for a cigarette cannot return for 45 minutes, a window that is designed to ensure any smell of smoke on clothes has disappeared.

Nomura has said it aims to cut the smoking rate among staff to 12 per cent by the end of March 2026.

Several other Japanese companies, including technology conglomerate SoftBank, trading house Itochu and semiconductor tools maker Disco, have recently taken similar steps to Nomura.

The push by Nomura comes amid a broader national effort to reduce smoking. Several cities, including Tokyo, largely prohibit it on the streets. 

The Japanese government aims to cut the adult smoking rate to 12 per cent by 2033. The rate was 14.8 per cent in 2022, according to the Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare, a steep decline from the peak of the 1960s when almost half the adult population smoked.

The war on smoking has not yet reached Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, who has reportedly complained that his schedule is too busy to allow more than a few cigarette breaks a day.

He told a parliamentary session in December that he would need “a little more time” if he were to quit completely.