Working through lunch

[Jenkibuble]

I work in an organisation that does not close for lunch . We are not in a life saving profession for context !

I am the only one who takes an hour (others work through ) I do not get paid for it.
No one has said anything but I get a vibe that I am frowned upon for not doing the same (working through)
Anyone else experience this ?
NB - there is not the option for flexi eg go early if work through

No, it seems a very outdated mentality

Yes ages ago I worked for a small lawn care company (think head court 2 or 3 people in the office so very tiny, no hr) and the whole working through lunch was presented as if the need arose to go to a medical appointment - no problemo, apparently...

We also worked at a place in middle of nowhere. Not easy to go anywhere.

I personally don't agree with not taking lunch and not removing yourself from the immediate area.

I do not work for free.
if I’m expected to work then I expect to be paid.
i don’t arrive early or finish late either

Sometimes I work through lunch, sometimes I start early and finish late but other times I get to take a long lunch or finish early so I don’t mind. If it was a regular thing and an expected thing I’d be mightily pissed off.

I have an unpaid lunch hour. Depending on the weather, I will normally go for a thirty minute walk and then have my lunch at my desk when I come back. My monitor will be switched off. If one of my customer’s has told me that they are likely to arrive on my lunch and they have paid in advance, a colleague will step in. If a customer hasn’t paid in advance or arrives unannounced they have to wait. They are told in advance.

I do not work for free.

Our lunch breaks are unpaid. On Fridays in particular, we have quite a few people who work through lunch and then leave early. Not everyone can do this, as we still have to cover the service until 5pm, so we have to coordinate. But it's also important to have a break.

Legally they should be making people take at least 20 minutes for lunch.

Honestly that’s their problem! The attitude needs to change around it, people can make their choice but it shouldn’t be looked down upon to actually take a break (which is great for productivity!) rather than working through.

I work in a non life saving profession - a new chap earlier this year made a comment about me taking my lunch when I was in the office, as he’d been working through his and ‘hadn’t realised’ it was the done thing to take a lunch. He said it so loudly (in my opinion trying to get our boss to pay attention) - so I just loudly said back “if you struggle with time management so much you are missing lunch daily I can try to help you work more efficiently” 😂

It’s such an outdated attitude. People are more efficient if they take a lunch break.

Oh , the brown nosed employee !

Great response from you

Thanks everyone - I feel far more reassured and confident in my actions !

Productivity , I totally agree with - i am
at a computer screen and could not do this without the break !
Hot office foo

It completely depends on your job.
I rarely take a defined lunch break but I work so flexibly it doesn’t really matter.

My breaks and lunch are paid, and you aren’t allowed to work through. No drinks at the desk and no windows so strongly encouraged to go and drink something and step outside for a bit

Where I work it’s a bit of a race to the bottom - amazing if you work through and bonus points if you didn’t even have 2 minutes to get some lunch. I’m relatively new and I don’t do that.

I block out time for lunch every day. Sometimes I take two hours on the very rare occasion my diary allows. I make it clear to my team they need to take a break and that I’ll be the opposite of impressed if they try and get brownie points by not taking a break. People think I am a revolutionary!

I also don’t think it should be perceived differently if it’s paid or unpaid, if it’s paid you’re being paid to take a break. If it’s unpaid and you don’t take a break, if lunch is meant to be an hour and your always work through you’ve worked almost a whole working day extra for free that week. Well done!

I like to take a lunch break when I’m in the office, mostly to get outdoors and have some fresh air, run some errands in town if required and usually buy something to eat! I rarely take the full hour unless I’ve gone out to eat lunch with someone but I feel better for the break and I’ll leave 10/20 minutes earlier guilt free.
At home I’m much better about being diligent about taking my full hour and using it effectively, usually can go for a swim or gym or nip to the supermarket or drop in and see mil or just even a walk.
I also don’t work for free.

Legally a 20 minute break must be taken after working for six hours.

When I managed a local government public service point I made sure all my team got their alotted breaks (including the unofficial ones), even if the public had to queue. This usually meant staggering the breaks. On evenings when the busses stopped running (fog/snow/industrial action etc) I ensured they left early or got a taxi paid for out of the petty cash. There were times many years ago when my service point was open til 9pm on new years eve. There would only be myself and the janitor (who lived near) for the final hour. I took a taxi home.