Will you be taking your allocated lunch break today or are you, like the majority of employees, cutting short time away from your desk – something which could be having an adverse impact upon workplace productivity?
According to a Bupa study, two thirds of the 2,000 participating workers questioned claimed that they regularly fail to spend 20 minutes away from their desk in order to eat their midday meal.
This is the minimum legal requirement for those who work six hours per day or more, and the result therefore hints that the pressures to impress at the office have not necessarily faded as the economy has taken a turn for the better.
Furthermore, for those who do manage to make time to grab a sandwich, a third remain at their desk to eat while 40 per cent answer their phone or reply to emails even during their short break. Yet even these workers are in a better position than the 28 per cent who claimed that they are rarely able to take even a minute to themselves during their contracted working day.
Bupa corporate director Patrick Watt is concerned that this trend will have lasting implications not only for the affected employees but also for the organisations they work for in the long term.
He says; “It’s worrying that some employers are not encouraging their staff to take time out of the working day to relax and recharge.
“Not only does this affect productivity levels, but it can have far wider implications on business performance.
“Taking a proper break helps employees to stay alert, focused and performing at their peak.”
Delving a little further, it does certainly seem that failing to sit back and replenish energy stores has a negative impact upon the performance of workers. 30 per cent, for example, cited an occasion in which skipping lunch had made them physically ill during the afternoon, while 40 per cent admitted it had had a dampening effect upon their productivity later in the day.
When examining the reasons for this trend, Bupa found that high workloads were the main contributor with 43 per cent of employees claiming they simply could not find the time to take a break. Bupa believes that one potential resolution to the issue could be to encourage office managers to take their full lunch break entitlement – a quarter of respondents often skipped their lunch after noticing their boss working straight through the day without a break.
With data from productivity app DeskTime showing the most productive workers take a 17 minute break for every 52 minutes of work it may be worth examining your office hours and seeing whether a proper break could benefit you.
