I remember when my greatest worry about lunch was hanging onto the money for it until then. Ah, those were the days.
There's something to be said for a real lunch hour where everyone gathers together in the same place to eat and socialize. But now you're quietly judged no matter what you do. Leave the office for an hour to actually eat out at a restaurant with a colleague – you're branded a slacker who's never in the office. And those desk diners remain convinced they're harder workers than you.
On the other hand, if you join the growing brown-bag-at-your-desk club, the literal lunch crowd judges you, too: You're an overachiever, anti-social, cheap, the list goes on.
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(Full disclosure: I try to strike something of a balance myself: hitting a favorite lunch spot at least once a week, bringing something from home most of the time, and, ideally, working out one day a week. As I write this, I'm eating something at my desk that I ran out and picked up, which I guess strikes some kind of "should I stay or should I go?" compromise.)
Either way, you can't win. And now we have a less-than-completely-scientific study to back up the "Scylla and Charybdis" nature of the lunch hour question. Some scientists in Germany found that those who ate at their desks tended to be more productive in the afternoons – more focused and less tired. But those who took time away from the office to get away and dine with colleagues returned more relaxed and less stressed, albeit more error-prone.
Makes sense, but in this age of wellness initiatives and work-life balance issues, doesn't it also makes sense to take some time away from your desk, even if it's to do laps around the parking lot or in the nearby park?
Besides, we should take advantage of time off for lunch while we still have it, and doing something more with it. A Monster.com survey from 2010 found a little more than 20 percent of people reported "always eating lunch at their desks," with nearly 10 percent never eating at all.
Lunch is a perfect time to play catch up – and not just on our own personal errands – as most of us do. A whopping 93 percent of people surveyed by Captivate admitted to running errands at lunch, defined as shopping online, leaving the office to run errands or shopping at nearby stores. (I'll admit I had an anniversary last week that drove me to the mall during my own lunch hour.)
Errands aside, it's a good time to meet with your own team outside of the confines of the office. Or maybe even grab lunch with someone in an entirely different department. And, honestly, we could all probably use a little more "walking around time" at lunch, even if it's just out to your car.
Now if we could just bring recess back …
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