Work time rest breaks

[tulipsforeveryone]

I start work at 7:30 am until 5.00pm.
How long should I expect to get for a break and lunch break ?

:)

Minimum is 20 minutes see here but I would expect your contract to give you more than that, most do.

You're entitled to a 20 minute break if you work over 6 hours

I would maybe expect a paid short break and a longer unpaid lunch break but it depends on the employer

20 minutes minimum

Thank you ladies for the quick replies :)

I do get an hour lunch break, and 15 minutes break.
Lunch is between 12 & 2pm and the rest break we have to take either in the morning or the afternoon.

I find that the rest break is not enough, as I'm sitting down all day and glued to a pc.

Can you not split your breaks into 3 smaller ones instead?
If I worked that shift I would get 30 mins lunch and 2 x 10 minute breaks.
On a 6 hour shift I get a 20 min break and on a 4 hour shift I get a 10 min break.

So you get 1hr 15 min? How is that not enough?

Most people only get a lunch hour (and in many offices, people dont take the "break" orend up having a sandwich at their desk). No additional breaks.

That is a generous break allowance. I'm guessing you're free to get up and go to the toilet in between these times should you need to and arrange your work so you can change your field of vision, etc every so often, by perhaps using the photocopier or filing or simply looking away from the computer screen for 30 seconds?
What would be acceptable to you?

That's a long day OP. Can you make drinks at other times or only in break times? Plus can you do toilet breaks too. Stretch tea making ten mins, then 2 or 3 toilet breaks. Best take your 15 min break in morning, else it'll feel really too long if you save it until afternoon. Bloody slave drivers.

That is a generous break allowance. Who needs bosses when we have peer pressure.

It's generous as in it's over the minimum. The OP asked what would you expect, not what you would like.
But then I regularly tell encourage people to actually take the breaks that they are entitled to rather than choosing to work through just so they can pull the 'poor me' card.

Different hours 8.45 - 17.00 and I get 2x 15-20 minute breaks and an unpaid 45 minute lunch. The second break is discretionary, and meant to be only if we can spare the time. But as long as I have been there we have had the second break. We need to concentrate for long periods and I find I really need the break.

That is a long day to work on just one break. Just because the law says a 20 minute break if working 6+ hours doesn't mean employers should stick to it. I think a workforce is more productive if they have adequate breaks.

Could you ask to have only 45 minutes for lunch so you can have an extra 15 minute break?

I work the same amount of hours but slightly later - 9.30am to 7pm - and I get 30 mins lunch plus two 10 minute breaks, so you get 25 mins more break than me. Can you not split your hour in two?

But OP has a break and a lunch adding up to 1hr 15 mins which is well over the 20 minute minimum

It’s fairly unusual for sedentary office jobs to have more breaks than just a lunch break tbh. Presumably you are able to go to the toilet, stretch your legs every so often, get a drink of water?

In most offices people have a contractual lunch break and no other set breaks.

I work in healthcare.
Currently I work 7.00 to 4.00 3 of my 5 days and technically get a 30 minute unpaid break. Most days I just eat at my desk, some days in the car between visits, but I can make a cuppa and eat/drink at my desk any time I like and my days are not often the same.

I think if I was just doing desk work all day and I had the break allowance you have, I would fed break it in to smaller chunks.
So 3 x 20 mins and 1x 15 Mins?
Or one 30 to go for a walk and split the rest.

My old job was 8am - 5pm

15 min paid break 9.45 - 10am
30 min unpaid lunch 12.30 - 1pm
then 15 min paid break 2.45 - 3pm

So, 1 hour and was there 30 mins less than you are at your job.

I get a half hour break for lunch - I would prefer an hour but there we go.

If you're a VDU user then you should be able to take regular breaks from the screen - although this doesn't necessarily mean a break from work. So you could go do some filing or similar instead.

I work the same hours as you do OP but I'm always in at 6:30 & 95% of my job is done sitting at my desk & my contracted break is one hour for lunch which I usually take anytime between 11:30 and 1:30. I get no other set breaks but I can get up at any time throughout the day to make a coffee, get a biscuit etc I can also spend the odd 5-10mins chatting to colleagues without doing any work at the same time.

But I do have one colleague who is still insistent that he is entitled to 15mins in the morning & 15mins in the afternoon as per the old rules of 15mins break in a 4hr work period - he's old so we let him get on with it.

My work place lets the smokers have breaks too. Pretend to take up vaping

I work 9 hour shifts and get 2 15 min breaks and an hour lunch

Besides the structured breaks are you able to get up and go make yourself a coffee etc?

If you feel it’s not enough would there be scope to shorten your lunch and take 10/15 minutes in the afternoon?

Thank you so much for all the feedback.
We have had some debate at work about splitting the lunch hour to have a short break in the morning & then again in the afternoon.

This would be be better suited to me, as we cannot just get up and make tea/coffee.

As a full time working mother with elderly parents to look after, I'm in bed at 12 and up at 5am. I'm exhausted as most.

Thank you again ladies for the time.