n average worker wastes almost one year of his or her working life puffing away on cigarettes, a new poll revealed.

Three 15-minute smoking breaks a day cost employers 195 working hours a year for each worker. That is equivalent to 8,677 hours in an average 44-year working lifetime or simply put, nearly a whole year smoking instead of working.

"The results will be annoying for employers - who are essentially paying people to puff away. They will irritate non-smokers who wouldn't get away with disappearing for three 15-minute coffee breaks a day," John Sewell, from onepoll.com, who released the poll results, has been quoted by local newspapers as saying.

The smoking ban in most offices and building did not help reduce the number of employees who smoke, with 69 percent continuing to light up a cigarette but only has to do it further away from their desks or cubicles.

The smoking ban, in fact, annoys 45 percent of the 6,000 people polled. They do not approve of being forced to smoke outside of the office, restaurants or even bars that have a no-smoking policy.