People working through lunch..

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No idea if this is a common thing at other companies, but at my place it seems the normal thing to do is that people just work through their lunch or take about a quarter of what they're actually entitled to.

I've never understood it, and I always make a point of taking my full lunch break as I need that time away from my desk before I go into the tasks that need completing in the afternoon.

Is this common these days?

This has always been common?

It is in our office, people leave and don't get replaced so everyone is too busy to take a proper break unfortunately. It's either that or you work later to catch up.

Yeah when you're busy what else can you do? I think a lot of us don't really know what to do on our lunch break so figure we may as well get through a bit more of the to-do pile. Most of the people in my office work through lunch. 30 minutes isn't enough to really do anything valuable or productive. I usually use mine to follow up on phone calls for things like medical appointments and house viewings then I just get back to work.

I wouldn't say it's common. I do it, but I feel like I'm not in the majority at my company.

Sometimes people stay at their desk through lunch but they are not actually working, but using the time to browse the internet.

Used to, don’t any more. Don’t see the point in working for free. Anyone who does this is simply complicit in eroding workers’ rights.

What's your AIBU, BTW?

I used to be an Estate agent and I never ever took my lunch break and tbh it was frowned upon to take it. I don't agree with that, but that was the way it was.

Before I was an estate agent I worked at a couple of big companies and we actually got our lunch break.

In a bad workplace people sometimes feel they don't have the option and they need to give their soul to the job. However, in a good workplace it could just be that employees have flexibility over when to work so choose to take a short lunch break and use the time elsewhere. For example, I take a short lunch break and then take another half hour later to pick my kids up from school. Or I might finish early sometimes to do something personal. Does anyone have an issue with you taking the time at lunchtime? I certainly wouldn't. Use your time as works best for you!

I used to do this a lot but now if I end up working through lunch I make sure I either leave early or take the time back at some point that week. My lunch is unpaid though so I’m not selling myself short anymore if things don’t get done in my allotted hours because we are so chronically understaffed that’s a management problem not a reason for people to work through lunch. I now value my time more but I think it’s an easy trap to fall in to.

They do this at my office also, I know it's a thing, but I'm not volunteering 5 hours of my time a week for my company. Over the course of 4 weeks that's me essentially giving them 25 hours of my time. Absolutely not.

If I were doing critical work that needed to get over the line? I might take lunch at my desk. But I'm not, so I don't.

I use it to run errands and listen to radio 4.

People have different ways of working (and it depends on what you're working on, too). When I get into a groove with certain tasks, I'd find it difficult to get back into it if I took an hour's break. Back in my office days I'd often work straight through lunch then leave a bit earlier, which I much preferred. Or I'd take a small break at my desk to browse the internet rather than leaving the building.

Since WFH I manage my own time almost entirely and usually end up taking small breaks throughout the day, depending on workflow, rather than a one-hour chunk in the middle of the day. It's just how I work best.

Definitely important to have your boundaries around whatever form of break time works best for you though, unspoken expectations that "no one takes lunch breaks" are not the sign of a good company.

I don’t want to take my entitled lunch, it’s boring. I either don’t take it, or take a shorter break, then leave early.

Our work are very firm about people taking a full break, to the point they discreetly keep an eye out to make sure we do. It helps we have a nice break room with tables, chairs, 3 large sofas and a telly.

I agree it's important to take the break. It freshens the mind and makes the worker more effective imo.

The only period of time during which I did not take allocated breaks was in a newly created role that was eventually reviewed and became two posts. It simply wasn't possible for anyone to complete the workload - that didn't stop me almost driving myself insane attempting it though!

Whenever I noticed anyone regularly failing to take breaks I'd have a chat to establish whether it was a workload issue or a training issue.

If approached I was always flexible to allow someone to work through in order to finish early so long as it was not a regular occurrence.

Very common in the last place I worked. Frowned upon to leave your desk for more than 20 minutes. I usually ate my lunch at my desk so I could eke it out a bit while being available for phone queries.

I've never missed a lunch break in my life. Sandwich and a 30 min walk every day, rain or shine.
Some of my colleagues work through lunch, I'd go nuts doing that.

I do - through choice and I do get periodically nagged by my manager about it - but I prefer to do that and have the leeway if I need to leave slightly early one day as I have an employer who will make sure we get extra time worked back in lieu. Would not do it if I had an employer who took the piss and expected it though. I don't switch tasks well and I prefer to keep going with a task once I've started it so it works better for my mind that way.

I sometimes take my full lunch but tend to prefer more frequent shorter breaks throughout the day.

I can take breaks when suits me best. It wouldn’t work for me to down tools every day for an hour.

That said, I do always encourage my team to take their full lunch and I deliberately do this when I’m in the office with them so that they can see it’s something we all do. I’d say we are pretty flexible as a team.

I used to always do exercise in my lunch break, which made me feel like I was achieving even in a crappy work week and meant I had more energy for the afternoon. I feel like I'm less productive when I am stressed and work through so try to avoid it and at least do something separate and not just internet browsing.

I always take my break. I always start and leave work on the dot too.
If I wanted to do unpaid work, I'd work in a charity shop.
We're not allowed to eat anything at our desks anyway.

I do it often to get on top of my work load because if I don’t, the only person who suffers is me.

I very rarely take lunch, same with most of my colleagues. There are occasions when I try to but it tends to go pear-shaped as an urgent meeting gets booked (as lunch is the only available time). I work as part of a global team so that means trying to accommodate multiple timezones. If everyone insisted on taking a lunch break, we'd get very little done.

Ours are insistent on a minimum of 20 minutes, which I begrudgingly take. We can work flexibly between 8 and 5.30 so the less lunch break I take, the earlier I can leave.

It really depends on the workplace and also what you prefer to do.

If it is an inflexible work place that insists on an unpaid lunch hour in the middle of the working day the you cannot work through and get flexibility at the beginning or end of the day/for appointments I would not be working through the lunch hour.

I have been fortunate that most places I have worked allow a bit of give and take flexibility and I can choose to work most lunches rather than work later.

One manager suggested we should ensure we take lunch to bond/network with other colleagues. That went down like a lead balloon - if they want team building activities they should happen in work time, unpaid lunch you should be free to socialise or not as you choose!