Time to Take Time! (Part 2)

The idea of the snatched sandwich lunch at the office desk, popular in British workplaces, will always baffle me in terms of those office workers (not talking about higher management here!) jeopardising their entitlement to a legally-deserved quality time break that they should dedicate to their lunch and to general well-being!

Instead those employees give me the impression of feeling guilty or shifty about their break, having what looks like a working lunch improvised against the distractions of the office, while at the same time multi-tasking over the internet, juggling between different web pages, the work-related ones and the social network/ news/ shopping ones…

How can you be performant and productive the whole day, every day, without taking a proper break away from your desk, is beyond me. In my fifteen years spent in office environments, I have always made a point of leaving my desk, whether to go to the canteen, out for a walk, run some errands, even drive somewhere and stay in the car just to take stock and enjoy some peace and quiet.

Remember, a few generations ago, some workers - maybe your own ancestors – would have raised their voices and gone on strike to help better the human condition and obtain more rights in the workplace. One of these rights was a lunch break and if you are not taking it, then maybe one day employers will become convinced that employees don’t need them after all… Now I hope you are not reading this while on your snatched lunch break at work. What did I say earlier?