Are Lunch Breaks a Waste of Time or a Productivity Booster?

I prefer to eat and work....but now I made a deal with my boss that I can take 2 hours lunches (to hit the gym) and then I just stay an hour later.

nice, we got a 15 minuet break, a 30 minuet lunch and if they make you stay late in the same week you have vacation time on your check you didn't get overtime pay even if they kept you up there til midnight.

Can't do without it and suffer if I don't have lunch.

EAT & WORK
^at the same time^

yea..... food and drink are great ways to destroy whatever you work with and on..... I banned all food and drink from being anywhere near work areas (including desks) after three computers were destroyed and we had a major ant and mice infestation..... if you can't take breaks, that means you need to learn better organization and production skills. Best not to tell me you "can't" take breaks.

I can :D
I like my cats
They are funny
I work or do whatever i do at the computer & IF i eat at the same time they start to meow around .They are very sweet <3
:D

It depends on the amount of time u have. 30 mins is not only a waste of time it's unhealthy

really. do you have any evidence to back that? please do share that with us.

Actually, breakfast is a productivity booster.
Lunch just makes you feel full again ;)

Even when I dashed out to pick something up to eat at my desk, it was refreshing to get away from the office - even briefly - to recharge mental batteries and remember that customers out there mattered as much as suits in the office. It's a good thing IMHO.

My boss would say the opposite!

I'd rather be working. I'd rather skip lunch entirely, and go home half an hour earlier because in my job, time is directly tied to production. If you work 300 cases an hour, taking a half hour break is 150 cases you could have worked.

but how are they gonna feel about you leaving half an hour early.

If the work is done, then it's done. I actually have a very flexible workweek. I get 40 hours for the week, give or take 15 minutes, but I might work 6 on Monday and Tuesday and 10 on Thursday and Friday (that seems to be how it usually pans out anyhow).

i guess it depends where you work. the plant i use to work at, if you finished your job they found you another one. you left when they said you could leave and if you turned down staying late they made your life a living hell.

I'm not even going to make 40 this week. I left an hour too early today to hope for more than 39. Because there seriously was nothing left for me to do. They let us alone, and trust us to do work that needs to be done....and no one wants to wander around doing nothing. We're a very conscientious group when it comes to work, and when we need to work hard, we do. So we get a lot of leeway when it's slower.

we were on a point system. they could make us come in early or make us stay late but if we didn't stay from point a to point b without it being their choice (our designated hours) we were penalized. We also got no sick days and restricted funeral leave (even people who raised their grandchildren weren't allowed to take off to take them to the doctor and if your grandmother died and you had points you were sh*t out of luck. once my boss kept me on the way from my car talking to me about business and i didn't make it to the clock in time so I got penalized for it. I got an Im sorry but sorry didn't mean squat when he the half a point didn't go away.
thats all im sayin, some work environments aren't the same. alot of times when they screw you people over in the work place enough you want to kick your feet up for a half hour at lunch and say "this is my time" because they certainly get theirs.

it gets energy into your body whoever said Waste of Time YOUR WRONG

three meals a day....why not...bark

Excuse me…humans need nourishment, hello, anybody home?

I eat before work, I work an overnight shift, usually eat between 6 and 7 p.m. Don't need to eat again until the next day. That's part of the reason I'm not obese, because I'm not constantly stuffing my face.

so people who demand a lunch break are obese and are constantly shoving their face?
you do understand that your job doesn't care about you right? that they only give a lunch break typically because they are required to by law.

I said that *I'm* not obese, because I only eat once a day.

I don't want the break, and actually, if I work less than eight hours, they actually prefer that I don't take a lunch break at all.

I too am not obese, and work evenings. All of us (who work) have a daily schedule, an no mattter what that schedule is, there comes a time a person will have to eat, like it or not.

Yes. Before you start working. One time is sufficient.

these small breaks are essential for productivity. and also many today just don't devote enough time to themselves. i think that's a pity. take a moment to just pause and not be in a rush all the time. it can be an amazing experience.

We need to return to the full hour long lunches and end this stuffing garbage into your piehole while continuing to work or while driving...

They actually have done studies that say companies who allow workers to take nap breaks are actually more productive!

Except that I won't wake up when it's time to go back to work. When I sleep, I'm totally out for a few hours, and there's no waking me.

there are some like that...but not that many. and usually when it is like that for you, that means you are already sleeping too long...a nap is just that, a nap, not sleep. it should feel like being asleep for 5 minutes when in reality it is about 15-20 minutes...that is a real nap

and I'm saying I can't do it, that's all.

sorry bro. I feel for ya!

they encourage it here in japan

It may give you a chance to think out a problem or bring it closer to a successful resolution. You may even improve the efficiency and job satisfaction for those who work around you.

Everyone who works for me by the hour gets paid lunch breaks. My father did it for years and I wouldn't have it any other way. When it is a few of us working hard to keep up with deadlines I will even treat. It's sickening how some of these employers treat their staff. PEOPLE AREN'T EQUIPMENT!!!

Well i work in a truck factory. So, i get off after 8 hours of assembly work either way. The 30 minutes of air conditioning and decent food help get me through the rest of the my day.

What they aren't supposed to eat? I hope you are just referring to offices... Cause I'm sure tou can't eat while taking someone's blood or at a cash register....

let my blood sugar get low and I get super cranky and pissy. Like a woman.