When was the last time you took a lunch break?
A new survey from Right Management finds that only 20% of employees take an actual lunch break, and 39% of employees say they eat their lunch at their desk. What’s more disturbing, 28% report seldom taking any break whatsoever.
“We might infer that far fewer employees are feeling comfortable enough with their workloads and demands to actually take time away to enjoy breaks for meals,“ said Michael Haid, senior vice-president for talent management at Right Management. “This is yet another warning sign of the relentless stress experienced by workers in the U.S. and Canada. Of course, they may have lunch, but it doesn’t constitute a real break from work as they must also monitor the phone and email or do any number of other work-related tasks while eating.”
According to Haid, an organization’s culture often makes employees feel they ought to apologize for stepping out for even a half-hour. “One has to ask if such pressure without any let-up actually benefits the individual or the organization. I mean, does it really improve performance? What are the longer-term consequences for employee health and engagement?”
There are limits to what employees can reasonably handle, and often it is the employees themselves who begin to sacrifice their own break times in order to manage their workloads, believes Haid. “So whether the organization is imposing unrealistic workloads or whether employees are progressively giving up break times themselves, leaders need to pay close attention to the changing work habits of their employees. They need to understand the early warning signals that overworked employees and impossible workload demands are creating.”