Do you suffer from "lunch-ism" at work?

[justdivein]

Like many people I'm working from home at the moment. On paper we can take lunch whenever we like, and for me that is usually at 12, because that's when I get hungry, and when my DH (who is working in another room) also gets hungry. Our daily lunch date is one of the perks of working from home.

However ... in a bid to improve the work-life balance of people who are too disorganised to mark their preferred lunch time in their online calendar , so end up with back-to-back meetings, our management now suggests that everyone should generally avoid booking meetings between 1-2pm. So, all of a sudden:

1. the preferred lunchtime of (presumably approximately) 50% of staff is considered less sacrosanct than that of the other 50% of staff,
2. my tentatively reserved 12-1 slot is being regularly and un-apologetically breached in order to leave the 1-2 slot free,
3. if I want to protect my preferred lunch slot, whilst also respecting the 1-2pm curfew, the combined effect is a significant reduction in the number of meeting slots available to book.

Rant over ... it's time to draw a line in the sand ... I'm off to convert my tentative lunch booking into a fully blocked out slot.

I think 1-2 is a more standard lunchtime for adult.

Unfortunately I think yab at bit u, as they can’t pleased everyone.

It's only an extra hour and you're an adult, just wait until 1pm and guarantee having your lunch undisturbed

I think having a standard lunch hour throughout the business is a good idea.

the combined effect is a significant reduction in the number of meeting slots available to book.

And the problem is?

Are meetings essential for your job?
It's just one less hour per day.

And how is it different from working at the office?

Sorry, I'm too biased to reply to this because clearly 1PM is the better lunch slot. It means you wait longer for food, but then you don't return to your desk til 2PM, so only 3 hours until hometime! Have a mid-morning banana and wait it out.

I think it’s great you get a lunch hour. Every work place should bring this back for full time staff and encourage people to move away from their desks / work space for that time. I think it would make people much more productive. My children only get 2 30min breaks at school. It’s not enough time to eat properly and unwind.

It’s annoying you can’t have lunch when you choose but it’s still within a usual lunchtime slot if you can eat at 1.

Few meetings is generally an excellent idea.

I would merrily block out those two hours per day now.

I work from home all the time, have done for years and I’ve learned that lunchtime is whenever I have an hour free in the middle of the day - so might be 12,12:30 or 1pm if I have meetings. Most people don’t schedule them at lunchtime but it happens and you have to just accept it.

I don’t know anyone that has a set lunch time!

3. if I want to protect my preferred lunch slot, whilst also respecting the 1-2pm curfew, the combined effect is a significant reduction in the number of meeting slots available to book.

Win-win, no?

You could defer your lunch for 30 mins & book 12.30-1.30, instead? 1-2pm is pretty much universally accepted to be a standard 9-5 lunch hour. You’ve been unwittingly annoying people by coming back at 1pm and trying to book them into a meeting.

I'm with you OP. Why do others preferences trump yours?!

Book 12-1 in your calendar every day so that the scheduling assistant shows you as busy and people don't try and book you?

I couldn’t work in a place that dictated my lunch hour. I’m not a toddler! I’m starving by 12. YANBU. But just how many meeting slots do there need to be in a day? I thought one of the benefits of WFH was realising not everything needs to be a meeting.

I'm also a 12pm luncher and you're wayy overreacting. It's an hour. Who cares?

In my (1,000+ person) organisation it is incredibly difficult to pin people down for something between 13:00-14:00 because that really is the preferred lunchtime slot. Sometimes we all just have to go with the majority vote at work. I’d prefer to start work at 7am because I’m an early riser, have no lunch break at all because I don’t generally eat lunch, and clock out at 3pm; but have to accept that on days where I’m required to be in meetings or network I can’t expect my colleagues to accommodate how I prefer to structure my working day.

What's a lunch hour?

I just block my calendar out each day when i'm having lunch, same as if i was in the office.

People can put meetings in if they want but i won't be there.

I haven't really taken a lunch break whilst working from home, usually eat something at the table. At work we are only given half an hour. 9-5. Where I used to work we got an hour for lunch and 2 15min breaks for coffee (which hardly anyone ever took, but it meant if you made yourself a coffee nobody could say anything).

I'm with you OP. Why do others preferences trump yours?!

Why do the OP's preferences trump others?

the combined effect is a significant reduction in the number of meeting slots available to book.

So you end up with fewer meetings. That's a good thing, isn't it?

Too many Zoom meetings are surely not good for anyone.

Why don't you just book out from 12-2? It doesn't matter what you are doing during those hours, just no available for meetings surely?

Fewer meetings are surely a good thing?!

Just block out your calendar and have your meetings at 11am or 2pm instead.

Can't you just block out the time in your diary? I like eating early too so if I have a noon meeting I just have lunch at 11.45.

YANBU. Definitely book the 12pm – 1pm time slot in your calendar for lunch. It's fine if people can't reach you for meetings during that 2 hour block during the day. The 1pm - 2pm time block could be used to get your head back in the work game after a leisurely lunch. Enjoy the time with your husband. :)

@iklboo

I'm with you OP. Why do others preferences trump yours?!

Why do the OP's preferences trump others?

They didn't trump others' lunch time preferences. She clearly stated in her OP that a few people who didn't understand the concept of taking lunch or blocking out time in their calendars have caused this.

I'm with you op! I don't eat breakfast so I'm starving by 12 and that's when I have my lunch! Grown adults who are working in their own home should be able to choose when to eat.