Please or to access all these features

Add post

Watch this thread

Save thread

Start a new thread

Flip thread

Hide thread

My feed

Active Unanswered threads

Getting started FAQ's

Unanswered threads Acronyms Talk guidelines

Hide shortcut buttons

Talk

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Flip

1 2

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:

Sazzle41 · 17/04/2015 22:30

I'd rather eat as i go along: that way no one whinges when i leave on time. Where i work most people work thru it Mon-Thurs but take afull hour on Fri at the pub. The people who take lunch every day always stay later i noticed when i started office life. The '2nd wave' of people who come in at 9.30 also stay later. A lot of then are contractors who stay really late so no-one makes them commit to 9am starts. But I would rather be in at bang on 9 and then go home on time.

My job involves lots of doing time critical stuff that other people have left to last minute & then panicked about so I like to feel everything is either at least either read, or started or done/dusted as its usually close to the wire deadline wise when i get it. I hate to go home with something not even looked at but in my inbox unread. I only take time away if i need to stock up on something i forgot to buy at the weekend or once a fortnight lunch with a colleague who is same work wise.

Comingoutofhibernation · 17/04/2015 22:34

Grantaire, unfortunately your DH is not an employee, and therefore employment law doesn't apply to him.

Grantaire · 17/04/2015 23:13

They have force standards which are supposed to be adhered to...

Stealthpolarbear · 17/04/2015 23:19

I work best when I work according to how I feel and the task
sometimes I work while I put washing in and clean the kitchen, ideas come to me and I go back and implement them
other times I am most productive when I only leave my desk to wee and grab a sandwich to bring back, when I'm in the middle of something, I'd hate an enforced hour off and it would set me back.
so I think it's too simplistic to say a lunch break away from the desk is always a good thing

DarthVadersTailor · 17/04/2015 23:37

I disagree OP. I rarely take a lunch break even though pretty much everyone else does and I find it's easier to get in the work groove and stay there though as I really enjoy my job it's no bother to carry on. Saying that instead of taking a half hour to eat I leave half hour early and as a smoker I can take 5 mins out to have a fag whenever I like so I can stretch my legs and chit chat if I need to.

Compared with others in my team I'd say hand on heart my productivity is way above most of them. Those who take an hr to go and grab a bite don't get half as much done as I do!

MrsMook · 18/04/2015 07:21

One of the reasons that I use the canteen at work is so that I get out of my room, walk, get briefly outside, and eat something half decent. It is tight as our lunch break is 30 mins, but by the time I'm able to lock my room up, it's more like 25.

DH goes for a walk to a sandwich shop for similar reasons.

Evidence is coming out that sitting continually, with few bouts of movement is very poor for health and fitness. Even regular exercisers undermine that work by not moving through the day.

Ginmartini · 18/04/2015 07:29

Grantaire it's illegal not to have a lunch break. For e.g. many of my staff have requested leaving an hour earlier and working through lunch to make up the time (as a contractual change) and I have to say no as that would be illegal.

In reality many people work through lunch or sit at their desks. I do and I am magnificently productive at all times!

Ginmartini · 18/04/2015 07:30

DarthVadar I agree. I also love my job so am quite happy to work while chomping on a Pret salad.

Southeastdweller · 18/04/2015 07:45

I've always had breaks away from my screen, even if it's just 20 minutes at lunch. It's important to me to have a break but I've never worked anywhere where people sit at the desk the entire day so never noticed a difference.

Any future employer that forces me, whether overtly or not, to go without lunch and break the law can stick their job up their butt - I would never stand for it.

Nonie241419 · 18/04/2015 07:58

I'm a teacher and we only have 40 minutes at lunch. By the time I've tidied up everything from the morning, set up everything for the afternoon, dealt with children who have lunchtime detentions and spoken to colleagues about issues that have arisen in the morning session, it's usually time for the children to come in. If I do have 'spare' time, I make a start on the morning's marking. I haven't bothered taking lunch to work for 2 years, as I don't like eating whilst running about. It probably would be more efficient to have a proper break, but I haven't figured out how to do it yet. I'm a believer in working smarter, I just don't seem to have any aptitude for it.

MidniteScribbler · 18/04/2015 08:01

If only it were so simple. I'm a teacher, so a one hour 'lunch break'. By the time the students have finished their food and put their lunch boxes away and been 'encouraged' out the door, ten minutes have gone. Then it's five minutes for a quick tidy up, ten minutes to set up for the afternoon. One lunch time per week I run a club, one lunch time I am on playground duty, one l have a staff meeting, one I have a year level meeting. Leaving me with one half of a lunch break per week that I'm free, if I'm lucky (although in reality I'm photocopying, grading, talking to students, or grimacing my way through a video of someone bungee jumping in New Zealand.

tobysmum77 · 18/04/2015 08:03

I dont know op. I do think that eating at your desk is a bit gross though.

Artandco · 18/04/2015 08:06

Well yes but many don't have time. For me I work for myself. If I take an hour lunch, that means I need to do an hours extra work later in the day. It's easier to work through, so I can leave earlier with children. ( earlier still means home no earlier than 7pm, would be 8pm earliest if I stopped an hour)

ragged · 18/04/2015 08:08

We don't have an indoor space to eat lunch unless you count a busy corridor standing up or a tiny windowless telephone closet room. It's usually too cold outdoors to sit still. I try to get out for a 20-45 min. walk, at least, weather permitting.

I think in my office we have a mini-competition over who can eat the noisiest, smelliest food (I'm as guilty as anyone).

Grantaire · 18/04/2015 08:13

Ginmartini, DH is not bound by employment law. Force standards have recommendations for breaks but these are only as far as the exigencies of duty permit. As pointed out above, DH is not an employee. When he signed up, he agreed to sacrifice several things which other people are legally entitled to. He can't join a trade union or strike for example.

Grantaire · 18/04/2015 08:16

They do have a Police Federation btw but it is not a trade union. It exists to look after the interests of serving officers, but is very different to a trade union.

sandgrown · 18/04/2015 08:27

My colleague did not take lunch breaks when her children were little so she could leave early. They have now left home but she says she would hate to take a lunch as an would not make up any flexi time. She is always stressed at work though and we have a lovely outside area with benches. I always take 30 mins but sometimes at my desk .

TheHappinessTrap · 18/04/2015 08:31

I hate taking breaks at work unless it's with colleagues. otherwise once I down tools I don't want to return to work!

mom2twoteens · 18/04/2015 09:05

Most clinical staff in the NHS don't get breaks or lunch either, 's funny because I think I work better when I get away from the department I work in (like the OP) and have a proper break.

Even if I only get 10 mins I'll grab a drink and go and look at daylight for a bit. A lot of my NHS jobs have been inside large hospitals where there is no natural light. I hate it, I need day light not even sun, I'm not asking for much, just some natural light. LOL

I can't actually go outside in my 10 mins because I have to change out of my uniform if I leave the building, can't manage that in 10 mins but I can stand in reception and try and catch some fresh air.

It's the little things.

ppeatfruit · 18/04/2015 09:52

Exactly mom2two Humans NEED fresh air and natural light, you'd think somewhere like the NHS would be aware of that. FGS.

Alisvolatpropiis · 18/04/2015 10:32

There are of course some jobs in which taking an hour is not possible, they've been mentioned. That isn't ideal but surgeons for example, can't just stop mid op and pop off for lunch.

However, the "working through to show how busy and important you are" mentality seems to be more common in offices.

It isn't one I ascribe to. Not least because they wouldn't pay me that hour if I didn't take it and I certainly don't get paid enough for me to think "fair enough".

MadisonMontgomery · 18/04/2015 10:49

The problem is that there isn't always somewhere to go for lunch. I can either eat mine at my desk, or walk round the carpark or eat in my car. Kitchen is only big enough for a 4 person table & there is approx 100 people in the building.

UsedToBeAPaxmanFan · 18/04/2015 17:45

I can walk into town in my lunch break, which is fine in good weather but not so great in winter. Plus there's nowhere to eat lunch apart from my desk. There is no space for a table in our office cupboard kitchen.

I quite often just eat at my desk and don't go out. I don't think it makes me less productive.

Flip

1 2

Swipe left for the next trending thread