More and more companies are completely banning smoking at work, and this includes slipping outside to huddle in a doorway for a quick one.

A study by chamber of commerce group Dansk Erhverv showed that one in four companies has now banned smoking completely – almost double the number that stubbed out butts in 2009. And the study concluded that the trend is likely to grow.

“It's not surprising,” Rikke Ørum, the HR head at Dansk Erverv, told Avisen.dk. “There is a lot of focus on smoking at work, including the time smokers lose on the job.”

Smokers ostracised
Some 35 percent of surveyed firms agreed that a nationwide ban on smoking at work is a good idea, and 24 percent of those have already implemented an outright ban.  

“Smokers have known they were living on borrowed time,” lifestyle specialist Helle Lundsgaard told Avisen.dk. “They have had many years to get used to it, so what is surprising to me is that so many workplaces allow smoking.”

READ MORE: Danes: Smokers should pay for their smoking breaks

Trade unions have expressed a lack of enthusiasm for a total ban on smoking, warning that smokers will feel ostracised at their own workplaces.

According to the latest census, one in six adults smoke daily, down from one in four in 2005.