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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

people that don't take breaks and work through lunch are not as productive as those who do

48 replies

medona · 17/04/2015 10:53

I'm a rarety in offices, I always take time out to have lunch away from my desk (30 mins) and if I want to eat some fruit I'll go on a 5 min break to sit away from my desk and look in the distance.

Other people will just sit in front of the computer solidly eating their noisey apples and smelly tuna salad at their desk.

Its a no brainer that breaks from the screen makes people more productive right?

OP posts:

Grantaire · 17/04/2015 10:55

DH isn't allowed a lunch break and if he didn't eat at his desk, he wouldn't eat.

You are right in essence I think. Everybody needs time away, recharge, nutrition, fresh air. I wish DH was afforded this basic human need.

AlternativeTentacles · 17/04/2015 10:57

I wish DH was afforded this basic human need.

He is allowed a lunch - by law. 20 minutes if he works more than 6 hours.

DisappointedOne · 17/04/2015 10:58

DH isn't allowed a lunch break and if he didn't eat at his desk, he wouldn't eat. If he's working more than 6 hours he must by law be offered a 20 minute break.

Grantaire · 17/04/2015 11:00

Yes well there's the law and then there's DH's job. Believe me, he knows the law. He also knows how long a gap he is supposed to have between shifts. He knows how many colleagues he should have working alongside him. None of what should happen actually happens in reality.

shewept · 17/04/2015 11:04

Grantaire that's illegal unless works less than 6 hours.

Yanbu op.

uglyswan · 17/04/2015 11:05

I'm with you OP - all the studies show that taking short breaks boosts productivity (brought to you by the Department of No-Brainers). And eating in front of your computer is uncouth
Grantaire - your DH is entitled to 20 min away from his workstation if he works six hours or more. Has he discussed this with his union?

DownWithThisTypeOfThing · 17/04/2015 11:07

Agree OP.

I don't take a lunch break which is technically illegal but it allows me to finish early enough to collect kids from school. Downside is from 1pm onwards I'm a waste of space. I organise my day so all of my "thinking" stuff is in the morning with more routine stuff at the end if the day. Not great though.

MangosMangosMangos · 17/04/2015 11:09

I used to take lunch breaks, I was also a rarity, I used to make my staff take them too. I did used to get more done and made better decisions (especially when dealing with staff management issues).

I worked with a lot of people who faffed from 8 till 8 and waffled in meeting that they let overrun. My mentor was a woman with 3DCs (I had none at the time) she was ruthlessly efficient and taught me to be the same.

uglyswan · 17/04/2015 11:16

Grantaire - that's what unions are for.

Grantaire · 17/04/2015 11:19

Honestly, I know. I really, really do. But it is what it is. There's nothing the union can do which will improve the situation.

ppeatfruit · 17/04/2015 11:27

No you are definitely NOT being unreasonable . Most of the Fr. take 2 hour lunch breaks and still work really hard either side of them.
The artisans we've had at home are amazing. (when you can get them) !!

HardToDanceWithTheDevilOnYourBack · 17/04/2015 11:28

Just because something is law doesn't mean it happens. I was terribly mistreated by an electrical retailer when I because pregnant. That said that 'risk assessments were done before I even had my Job and that I wasn't entitled to an individual risk assessment just because I was pregnant, that my job was safe and to get on with it. Working at height with low blood pressure and dizziness, plus moving heavy washing machines, fridge freezers, cookers etc. I obviously disagree'd I contacted environmental health and they went into the store, my boss produced a fake risk assessment for me after telling me i wasn't allowed one. They then did everythu g they could to game to quit, moved my desk to the furthest point in the building from the toilets. Sent me out to work in the snow accepting deliveries. It was completely illegal and they succeeded in their objective not to pay my maternity pay as I was signed off with work related stress in my qualifying weeks.
There seems to be a huge disregard for the law in most everything these days.

limitedperiodonly · 17/04/2015 11:28

I worked with someone who'd say she was too busy for lunch. She was just disorganised and had a martyr streak a mile wide.

YY Grantaire I understand your DH's situation. I didn't go to the dentist for three years in one place. I don't know whether you're legally entitled, but in most other places they don't bat an eyelid at a dental appointment. You wouldn't dare in this place. I know it was my fault but I didn't feel like going to the dentist on a day's leave. And we had a union.

Thurlow · 17/04/2015 11:39

YAB a little U. Mainly because a lot of people won't have anywhere else to go have lunch other than staying at their desk. It's fine to go for a walk, if there's somewhere nice to walk. But not for the whole hour, not if you want to eat.

For example, I work in central London and on a nice day you can sit outside in a park and eat your lunch, though you are fighting with so many other people for somewhere reasonable to sit. Or you have to pay to sit in a cafe or restaurant every day.

Or imagine you worked in an office on somewhere more like an industrial estate. No cafes, nowhere nice or even that safe to walk...

It's not that simple for a lot of people to just get away from their physical desk to have lunch.

Or a break - it would not be looked upon well if anyone in my firm took 5 minutes away from their desk every time they wanted to eat something.

And lastly some people just do jobs there they don't great a break - emergency services, for example. You can hardly say "I'm not going to stop that crime" or "I'm not going to treat that injury" because you want to go and sit down for 5 minutes.

So in an ideal world it would be lovely if everyone had the opportunity to take a decent break somewhere away from their desk, it's not something that is very practical for a lot of people.

ilovesooty · 17/04/2015 11:47

I use annual leave to go to the dentist. I thought that was usual.

notsmartenough · 17/04/2015 12:04

I worked in the NHS and HR left it to the manager's discretion whether or not to give time off for dental and GP appointments - mine didn't but we could use flexi.
We were allowed time off for hospital appointments.

I was in admin and thanks to all the reorganisations we had, ended up in all sorts of different places.
I liked working in hospitals as they had canteen facilities (some of them excellent) but if you were stuck in a Tech park you had to rely on vending machines or sandwich vans.
For a couple of years I worked in a small building with nowhere to go for lunch - everyone would sit at their desks.
Apart from me - I lived over the road and could go home for lunch!

muminhants · 17/04/2015 12:07

I work part-time so can go to the dentist when I am not working. But no I wouldn't generally use annual leave to go to the dentist, when I was working FT I'd try for a 9am appointment, go and then go back to work and make up the time later. If you book enough in advance (assuming just a check-up) you can get an appointment slot when you want at my dentist.

Would you take annual leave for a GP's appointment? I can't see the difference.

Grantaire · 17/04/2015 12:22

DH words for an emergency service.

On a normal day he is one of two people doing his job. Theoretically, there is somebody else to cover if you need a break. Realistically, each of them already has 30 crimes on their books and each needs progressing within a time frame and they can't afford to stop, particularly with 'live' jobs coming in. Nights and weekends, he is the only officer in the county doing his job. With 24hrs as your limit before charging, having to do your job so that somebody else can do theirs, needing to get a warrant NOW before the suspect is no longer where you know they'll find them, needing to interview and quickly, having to be next to the computers/phones because there literally is nowhere else. You can't take 20 minutes. You might grab 5 minutes but it's not guaranteed and you'll be at your desk, phone in hand. Crime doesn't stop.

The union can't make another police officer available to allow DH a break. He isn't answerable to the law around 20 minutes break. He's answerable to the public, his conscience and the impossibility of policing right now. He could work to rule I suppose. The victims would be, well, the victims.

Thurlow · 17/04/2015 12:27

Ditto, Grantaire, same here for DP - I know he often eats at 7pm at home and then doesn't have anything, hardly even a drink, until he gets home at 8am the next morning. It's just one of those jobs.

riverboat1 · 17/04/2015 12:32

I'm in France, and yes here the norm is a proper sit-down hot meal for lunch, and at least an hour away from your desk.

However it is also a norm for most people to work until 6.30/7.

I'd rather have 15m for lunch or eat at my desk and leave work earlier than stay here into the evening.

HearTheThunderRoar · 17/04/2015 12:43

I agree OP, I work a ridiculous amount of overtime, even if I don't have time to take my 30min lunch break, I at least try to go do a 5min walk to the supermarket if it's sunny and pick up a coffee/juice etc. Or even if I go and have a chat to another member of staff for 5 mins during their lunch break.

A short break is better than nothing!

TedAndLola · 17/04/2015 19:44

OP, you're right. Now it's sunny I need to force myself to take my lunch break again and actually go outside, not just browse websites at my desk. Just when the cold weather started last year I had a horrible bout of sciatica where walking more than five minutes was painful, and I've got into the terrible habit of eating lunch (cold, non smelly food!) at my desk.

HicDraconis · 17/04/2015 21:03

Might well be true for people who work in offices / at desks.

I work in an operating theatre. 2 sessions a day, each of 5h. Each filled (overfilled in the case of yesterday) with 5h worth of surgery. If I stop a list for 20 mins for a break, whichever case is at the end of the list will get cancelled or the list would overrun - therefore reducing productivity as it requires rebooking on to another list which puts someone else further back. Same goes for the nurses and technicians I work with. If we're lucky, there is enough cover for relief to allow breaks. If we're not, then breaks don't happen - if they did then the people who suffered would be the patients.

There are days when I cannot express enough gratitude to the colleague who lets me out after 8h non stop for a wee.

DameCatrionaSnidelyGoads · 17/04/2015 21:30

Always have an hour for lunch, and never eat at my desk (computer keyboards are THE most unhygenic things to eat near) I try to go out, even if it's only just to Marks and Sparks for a sarnie...I had a Big Mac one day this week - bad cat!

smellylittleorange · 17/04/2015 22:20

YAbvu

If I left my desk I could not go on Mumsnet :-)

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