The lunch hour is being killed by overworked employees, as they feel if they do take a break they will not be able to complete their everyday tasks.
This is according to research conducted by Flexioffices, which found that 22 per cent of employees say they have too much work stopping them from having a proper break.
Others (10 per cent) do this as they believe it gives off the impression they are working hard. It was also found that 8 per cent are worried if they do take their lunch break they will be scrutinised by their boss.
Over a fifth (22 per cent) do not leave their desk for lunch due to the fact their colleagues do not either, 7 per cent believe if they do this it can lead to a promotion.
By not taking a lunch break, an employee can feel like:
- They have no time for themselves (23 per cent)
- Mentally drained (22 per cent)
- Stressed (21 per cent)
- Unhappy (20 per cent)
- Working too hard (20 per cent)
- They cannot concentrate (18 per cent)
Over half (57 per cent) encourage their workers to take a lunch break, with 72 per cent of IT and telecoms workers being encouraged to take a break, HR came in second at 68 per cent and architecture and engineering at 66 per cent.
More than three-quarters (78 per cent) of UK employees do not have a lunch break area, with 57 per cent of London based workers saying they would take a lunch break if they had one.
Michael Dubicki, business director from Flexioffices said:
We can see from this research that despite many of us skipping lunch break or not leaving our desks, we know that this will have a negative impact on our work performance.
Making use of facilities around your office, whether that’s a gym, a park or even a stroll into town will help alleviate pressures and give yourself a break from staring at a screen.
This research is based on a poll of 2,00 UK employees.
Darius is the editor of HRreview. He has previously worked as a finance reporter for the Daily Express. He studied his journalism masters at Press Association Training and graduated from the University of York with a degree in History.
