The harder your employees work, the better, right? Not quite. Breaks at work, from regular lunch hours to informal opportunities for socializing, are essential for your employees to reach their full performance potential. Here’s why.
The Importance of Lunch Breaks for Employees
First, your brain needs a breather. We all understand that if people do physical labor, their bodies need to rest and recover. So why should we assume our brains can keep going all the time? They can’t. Your brain could use a break, and stepping away from your desk can actually make you more productive in the long run. What you do during lunch — besides eating — isn’t as important as taking a break from the daily grind.
To keep reading, click here: Are Your Employees Taking Lunch Breaks? Here’s Why They Should
I agree. My workplace does not have a lunch or break room or even a conference room or other shared space. Therefore, people eating in are stuck at their desks. It would be so much better to have another place to eat, for a number of reasons. If you have a large project spread out on your desk, you have to move something aside to eat. How sanitary is a desk, anyway, as an eating surface? Then, after eating, you need to clean that area (again) — from crumbs, drips, etc. — before resuming work. But, the main benefit of eating away from one’s desk is that it provides a mental break from work, free from phone calls, emails, etc. And, having a shared space in which to eat encourages interactions between co-workers, which — frequently — redound to the benefit of the employer.
During my onboarding with one downtown employer, the HR rep was asked if there was a corporate cafeteria available. No, was the emphatic reply. You’re encouraged to take a lunch, explore and enjoy Cincinnati.
The rep continued: this policy contrasts with our competitor, also downtown, which provides a cafeteria with free breakfast and lunch just so you’ll minimize lunch and transit time.
Former RN here (still licensed). Lunches are a hot issue with nurses, as most don’t get them, or if they do, they’re interrupted. Despite this the 30 minutes are taken out of our pay. Clocking out “no lunch” is, in most hospitals, either frowned upon or in some cases cause for disciplinary write-up.
I worked briefly at Amazon and despite their bad press I never went without a lunch and 2 breaks. In many ways I was treated better there than I was as a professional nurse.