Companies that outlaw smoking breaks risk a rise in staff stress levels, a dip in productivity and increased workplace absence, research by workplace consultancy Croner suggests.

According to the organisation, a third of employers were planning to ban smoking breaks as the smoking ban came into force in July.

But the research revealed that only 24% of smokers said they would cope well or fairly well if smoking was banned at work, compared to 75% who said they would be able to manage if it was restricted to breaks throughout the day. This fell to 56% when smoking was restricted to lunch breaks only.

The research suggests that around 16% of a company's workforce could be at risk of stress, meaning an organisation with 100 staff could lose around £60,000 a year through additional absence periods. This compares to just £16,520 lost from time spent on smoking breaks, based on a figure of 24% of employees being smokers.

"In office-based jobs, where breaks are normally handled informally, smokers typically treat smoking breaks as a way of refocusing after a period at the computer, just as non-smokers take regular breaks for coffee, personal phone calls or a snack," says Gillian Dowling, employment technical consultant for Croner.

"The research has clearly shown that taking this ‘freedom' away could increase stress levels, and we would advise handling the smoking break issue on an individual basis rather than installing a ‘blanket' smoking break ban."

Croner advises companies that are looking to use the smoking ban as a means of improving the overall health of their staff to focus on offering support for people trying to give up smoking rather than to impose outright bans.

"There are a number of non-intrusive policies we've been advising businesses to implement from making information leaflets available to allowing people to attend cessation sessions under existing workplace absence and sickness policies," added Dowling.

"While smokers should not be made to feel pressured to take advantage of these initiatives, having them available is just one more employee benefit that will lead to a more motivated and happy workforce."

The amount of time currently lost to smoking breaks is an average of 5.2 days a year per employee, compared to 26.8 days for stress-related conditions.