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.

Booking meetings anytime between 12 and 2 is devil work. Lunch is sacred and most meetings should be emails. Stand your ground!

@bumblingbovine49

And noone has suggested 12.30 to 1.30pm, which is my preferred time (we only get half an hour anyway but I like to take it between. 12.30 to 1.00pm)

Someone suggested that on page one. And page two, I believe.

Too busy in meetings/lunching with your DH to come back and engage with all those who took the time to respond? Poor show @justdivein.

Personally when I was working I preferred 12 lunch and working in retail had that flexibility and no one wanted a 12 lunch as it made afternoon longer 😁 however I can see that having one lunch slot benefits workplace for meetings and things. Can you snack at usual lunch time and eat later or even just not book your own between 12 &1? I suppose it depends on nature of business

As I don't get to work from home (and I'm lucky to get a lunch break at all some days) I really couldn't give a shiny shite about your 1st world problems.

Have a later/bigger breakfast and have your lunch at 1pm.

Be glad you have a lunch hour at all. I've ended up on zoom calls from 10-14 while pregnant and forced to wait till 1400 when about to faint.

I love the idea of the whole business accepting a meeting free hour to accommodate lunches or a pause in the day.

I currently have an hour booked out each day but invariably this gets encroached upon.

If it was accepted that no meetings get booked for one sacrosanct hour per day I think it would be great for wellbeing.... one can never choose the hour everyone will prefer, but even if you choose to take your lunch beforehand and risk an interruption, there is still an interruption free pause.

I may suggest this at my firm.

YABU. I would never book out an hour in my diary for lunch - it’s too inflexible for those trying to diarise meetings (I wouldn’t expect everyone to have to fit around my rigid schedule). I have lunch whenever there is a suitable gap in my diary. If that isn’t til 3pm, so be it.

You’re lucky to have a lunch hour at all. We’re allowed 30mins which is at a set time but because our apt’s often take longer than the time slots allowed a lunch break is generally non existent. We often don’t get time to even get a drink or nip to the toilet. I end up working at least a couple of unpaid hours every day because of the workload and expectations of our managers (nhs)
I think you should just feel lucky that your employer is encouraging you all to take a break. As per previous poster - have a snack mid morning to tide you over

Can't believe the moaning about people's "lunch hour"..... Where I work we get 30 mins (unpaid) anytime between 11-30 & 4-30 (and later) day shift is from 8am and 6pm it can be interrupted and regularly shorter than 30mins and is looked on constantly as an inconvenience

@Srslydontgiveacrap

Turn the camera off in the meeting and just chow down on your sarnie at 12?

it wouldn't a great lunch date with DH tho would it?

OP, when you're blocking out 12-1, are you just showing as busy (i.e. blue) or out of office (i.e. purple)?

I know people who block themselves out of office for that hour, and it works. You're entitled to have your lunch whenever you want it.

I eat when a suitable gap comes up, be that 11am, 3pm. What an odd thing to get cross about!

@PinkFondantFancy did you miss that OP sits and has lunch with her husband for an hour? i think it's sweet.

That's lovely I'm sure. I value my job even more than an hour with my husband though. I'm saving 2.5 hours a day at the moment not commuting - that's lots of time back with my family, I don't need to take the piss of out it and demand a lunch break with them every single day as well.

Lunch hour? I rarely have a lunch break (unless you count sitting on the toilet for 5 minutes while I check my phone).

My husband works for home while I am going to the office. He was staying with the kids and his lunch break kept moving to later and later. One particularly bad day I got home from work 4PM to find them about to sit down for lunch. The usual time when I was home would between 1 and 2. So I think you are a bit unreasonable because It could be so much worse

No wonder the work life balance in the UK is crap, given the amount of race to the bottom posts on here. Good on you OP for taking your lunch hour. People need to push for change if they are unhappy about their own working arrangements.

I eat lunch when I’m hungry, normally at 12, but even 1130 when I can’t wait. I eat breakfast.

Try blocking out your Calendar from 1200 to 1400. Just not one long meeting.

Is it like being on a date?

Gosh you’d really hate me, I’m a 2.30pm luncher 🤣

Yikes - I don’t generally take a lunch break as no time (either at home or at office). I’ve worded mainly from home for years. I’m one of the few on my office who have that in contract. Sooo, I’m super flexible.

But each week we have a big meeting at noon and then my manager always calls me immediately after to dissect the meeting which means I just don’t get a lunch break at all. Annoying,but grateful for the set up I have.

I’ve always generally worked 8.30 - 4.30 bit I’ve noticed that during covid my colleages who’ve joined me in WFH push the limits of flexible working to its very limit. I cannot get hold of them as they are doing online excercise/family bike ride/baking cakes/learning to crochet.

I block out my lunch (only get 30 mins), 12 -12:30. People tend to respect that as I have a toddler and don’t like to ruin his routine. I also get hangry, so it’s best if I actually do eat when I’m hungry.

You need non-meeting time to do work. Book it 1-2, take your lunch 12-1.

I’m amused at all the ‘I’m lucky if I get 5 mins for lunch’ type responses this thread has inevitably attracted.

I get a feeling the people who post these responses want us to feel some kind of admiration at their dedication and maybe awe that they are just so important and busy they can’t possibly break for lunch.

But when I read these comments my thoughts are a mix of:

• You need to manage your workload better or differently so you can have a lunch break
• life’s too short to be a martyr in the workplace
• if your work really hasn’t let you have a proper lunch break in a decade or whatever why the hell haven’t you stood up for yourself or used your initiative to find a job elsewhere?

For what it’s worth a lot of my colleagues block out their preferred lunch slot. Some people even book out 12-2 for a long lunch sometimes and make up the hours elsewhere. Imagine that martyrs - a two hour lunch!!

12pm is the lunchtime for me, yanbu.