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Mandatory lunch breaks?

Victoria Dmochowski

Does the future of work include mandatory (or strongly encouraged) lunch breaks?

A new People Management article by Dr Preethi Daniel discusses the impact of eating lunch at your desk on productivity. I've included a few quotes below:

'By skipping lunch or not getting the right lunch, you starve your brain and muscles of the key nutrients needed to function at peak level.'

'Lack of hydration and glucose as fuel means irritability, poor concentration and ultimately poor performance.'

'Providing access to fresh fruit or nuts to snack on instead is more likely to lead to a happy workforce.'

'Employers should encourage night workers to snack less and eat a balanced meal of lean protein and vegetables.'

'Neurones in the brain get tired and eating at the desk is not considered to be a good way to replenish cognitive stock.'

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  • Another, rather practical, point is if lunch breaks are to be enforced, then the employer should provide adequate space away from the workspace - a number of places I've worked simply haven't offered that so I've chosen to eat at my desk as there is nowhere else to go.

    In my current job, we have approx 250 office staff in the building and one small kitchen with a table and four chairs. Our office is on the outskirts of the city, next to a busy main road but the only amenity is a designer shopping outlet approx fifteen minutes walk away. In a previous job, there were 100 people in my department alone and probably more like 500 office staff on site (never mind factory staff) but there was one coffee bar that seated approx 20 people and a canteen that seated approx 100.

    In contrast, my last employer had a modern office with a huge breakout area - it would be used for meetings or relaxing and always seemed to be large enough for the number of staff wanting to use it. At another previous employer, staff were encourage to set up and run lunch time clubs - we had a book club and a knitting/crochet club.

    In my next job (which I start in May), my office is located in a beautiful city centre park, full of historic buildings and running down to the river. I think I will be eating my lunch there on nice days!

    What is everyone's else's idea of the perfect lunch location and what would you like your employer to provide?

    Jackie
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  • Another, rather practical, point is if lunch breaks are to be enforced, then the employer should provide adequate space away from the workspace - a number of places I've worked simply haven't offered that so I've chosen to eat at my desk as there is nowhere else to go.

    In my current job, we have approx 250 office staff in the building and one small kitchen with a table and four chairs. Our office is on the outskirts of the city, next to a busy main road but the only amenity is a designer shopping outlet approx fifteen minutes walk away. In a previous job, there were 100 people in my department alone and probably more like 500 office staff on site (never mind factory staff) but there was one coffee bar that seated approx 20 people and a canteen that seated approx 100.

    In contrast, my last employer had a modern office with a huge breakout area - it would be used for meetings or relaxing and always seemed to be large enough for the number of staff wanting to use it. At another previous employer, staff were encourage to set up and run lunch time clubs - we had a book club and a knitting/crochet club.

    In my next job (which I start in May), my office is located in a beautiful city centre park, full of historic buildings and running down to the river. I think I will be eating my lunch there on nice days!

    What is everyone's else's idea of the perfect lunch location and what would you like your employer to provide?

    Jackie
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