Next time you’re at work, use your lunchbreak properly.
No sandwiches at your desk. No checking emails when waiting in the queue for a food order to come through.
Take your FULL lunch break. It’s in your contract. Use it.
Why are we so concerned about your lunchtime activities? Well according to research conducted by Mastercard and Ipsos MORI, only 17% of British workers take their full hour break for lunch, with most people hammering a Meal Deal before returning back to the grind in 28 minutes.
In more depressing news, if you add up all those extra 30 minutes of work, it turns out the average UK worker is owed 8,096 minutes of break time per year.
*Does maths on fingers* That’s 16.9 days.
*Gets out the abacus, divides by five. Remembers to carry the one*
WE’RE ALL OWED THREE WEEKS IN BREAK TIME.
Someone tell this fella to stop watching iPlayer shows on his break and to head outside. Have a Lilt and a breakfast roll pal.
As reported in the Daily Mail, 66% per cent of workers don’t even leave the workplace during their lunchbreak.
Three in five of us bring in a packed lunch everyday and all.
Apparently a combination of increased work piles, limited lunchtime funds (while wish we could afford a Nandos every week, 36% of people say they never eat out during the week), and wanting to impress the boss lead many workers to remain terra firma on their lunch breaks.
But eating your lunch ‘al desko’ has adverse effects on workers.
Official health advice still says that sitting for prolonged periods is bad for your health, regardless of how much you exercise. The Department of Health in the UK advises people who spend a lot of time sitting to get up from their desk every 30 minutes.
Former Apprentice star Margaret Mountford (L) wants British workers to reclaim their lunchbreaks.
In response to the findings, former Apprentice star Margaret Mountford said it was time for UK workers to rise up and smash capitalism use their full lunch breaks.
She said: ‘Throughout my career I’ve seen employees hunched over their desks wolfing down a sandwich.
‘It makes workers less productive, hampers creativity and numerous studies have shown it’s bad for health, so why do we still do it?
‘Bosses should lead the way by encouraging a culture of lunch breaks – it will boost productivity, creativity and morale as workers feel better and take on the afternoon revitalised.
‘It’s time to stamp out the culture of not taking a lunch hour.’
