A lot of workers look forward to their lunch break in order to get a little freedom from the office, but the truth is, folks rarely take the full hour they are allotted, and that’s not really a good thing for employees or employers.
A new survey finds 90% of employees say getting to take a lunch break is important to them when taking a job, but in reality, more than half take less than 30 minutes to grab their food and eat it. And it seems employers are pretty clueless about it, with 88% saying they encourage their employees to take a full lunch break, while only 62% of employees say they actually feel encouraged to do so.
And it’s pretty apparent that employers should do more to make their workers take their full break, since the survey finds that employees have more satisfaction with their job when they do, and are more likely to stay with a company or recommend their employer to others.
- So why aren’t people taking their lunch breaks? Well, mostly it’s because they worry about being judged by their bosses and other workers, and they may have good reason for concern. It seems 34% of bosses look at how often someone takes a lunch break when evaluating job performance. What’s more, 22% of bosses judge employees who take lunch breaks as less hardworking and 13% of workers believe their co-workers look at them negatively if they take a regular lunch break.
Source: Tork