Home » Blog » Do your employees actually take a break at lunchtime?

Logic says the more you work the more you produce, but this is not the case.

What people tend to do is in their lunch hour or break typically consisted of whipping together something quick and then bringing it straight back to their desk so that they could effectively utilise every single minute of my workday.

Even though studies show that brief breaks actually help to boost your motivation and productivity, we still assume our unnecessary commitment to our desk is helping us. That extra half hour or hour spent in front of your computer meant you weren’t wasting a second of work time. I am sure a lot of your employees feel the same and may think it impresses their employers.

So what happens if you work nonstop for eight hours? Well you don’t seem to have deadlines and may lose focus on what you are doing.

What would go wrong with taking the break you are legally entitled to after six hours? Try it and see the benefit. When I tried it I felt refreshed, new ideas came to me and I just felt happier, especially when the breaks were outdoors and some exercise involved.

Here are some benefits of taking the time to take a deep breath and reset your afternoon.

1. Time to recharge truly is necessary
Taking some time to just take a deep breath and reset for my afternoon. Just that short stop in the middle of my day allows you to return to your desk feeling motivated, focused, and level headed — rather than blurry-eyed and completely drained.

2. Work-life balance isn’t all about after-hours
We all have the tendency to think of work-life balance as something that had to happen outside of normal office hours. To me, it was all about disconnecting from email at a certain time each night or trying to stay away from my to-do list on the weekends. Does it occur to you that there are things you can do to strike a better balance during the workday?

Walking away from your work might seem counterintuitive, but it can make you more productive.

3. Your brain plays tricks on you
There’s nothing like a little experiment to make you realise your brain is a dirty trickster that has a real knack for self-sabotage.

What do I mean? Too many times throughout my workday, I’d find myself thinking something like, “Well, I worked through my lunch hour so I can take a half hour to scroll through Facebook and kill some time getting lost in the internet rabbit hole.” And, that would’ve been just fine and totally justifiable if I only did that once during the day.

But, of course, I found myself reciting this convincing monologue several times throughout my workday. Suddenly I was wasting an hour and a half on completely unproductive activities —which a whole lot is more time than I would’ve spent taking a half hour or even hour long break.

So, while it seems counterintuitive, walking away for a bit actually made me more productive. Yes, it was less time spent at my desk, but it actually resulted in more time spent working. Bottom line: Don’t trust that prankster brain of yours.

So, if you’re one of those people who feels the overwhelming urge to stay strapped to your desk at noon, I encourage you to press pause and venture away for just a little bit and encourage your employees to do the same.

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