Photo/Illutration The president of Div Inc. explains why he doesn’t hire smokers in a video posted on a video-sharing website. (Provided by Div)

Prompted by revised regulations promoting health at the workplace, an increasing number of companies in Japan are requiring smokers to butt out as a condition for employment.

Small and midsize companies are seeking to distinguish themselves with such strict measures as they compete against larger corporations to recruit talented resources.

Osaka-based Sanwacompany Ltd., which designs and sells kitchens and bathrooms, has completely banned smoking during work hours since July. Employees are strictly prohibited from smoking not only in company showrooms but also in places they visit for business purposes.

The company is so determined to stay smoke-free that it added "non-smoker" as an employment condition for new graduates seeking to join the work force in April 2021.

Sanwacompany also requires its 200 employees to undergo an annual medical checkup.

The company believes that it can lower its medical costs if it reduces the risk of illness among its workers.

"We want to secure resources by promoting a corporate culture that cherishes health," said President Taro Yamane, 36.

Tokyo-based Div Inc., which runs programming courses, has only been hiring non-smokers since last spring. It also requires employees to stay smoke-free on and off duty after they join the firm.

For employees who smoked before the rule was introduced, the company shoulders a portion of their medical costs for attending smoking cessation clinics.

As there are no more smoking breaks disrupting the flow of work, "we can significantly improve our work productivity," a public relations official said.

Since several years ago, Washington Shoes Co., a footwear retailer based in Toyama, also clearly states in its terms of employment that only non-smokers can apply and makes sure of it when the company interviews applicants.

The number of major corporations that limit recruitment to smoke-free applicants is also on the rise.

A Japanese subsidiary of leading U.S. drugmaker Pfizer Inc. and Sompo Himawari Life Insurance Inc. have decided to hire only non-smokers from next spring.

Such efforts are encouraged by the Health Promotion Law revised last year, which will effectively ban smoking at the workplace from April and oblige companies to take measures to protect employees from secondhand smoke.

Tsuyoshi Ueno, a senior economist at the NLI Research Institute, said a majority view of experts is that companies can decide at their own discretion whether to introduce policies that limit employment only to non-smokers.

"These business operators likely want to promote themselves among non-smoking students as companies in good standing that provide a worker-friendly environment, hoping it will increase employment," Ueno said.