Office workers sacrifice lunch breaks and family time for promotions

According to a study, four out of 10 office workers never take their full hour-long lunch break.

The survey of 1,200 employees revealed that nearly 23% feel ‘pressured’ not to take a full midday break while a third skip lunch to catch up on office tasks such as note-taking or timesheet completion.

The research found that 22% have missed a medical appointment due to work encroaching on their free time, and 20% have been unable to attend an event at their child’s school. Other sacrifices include exercise (29%), meeting someone for lunch (23%), or even cancelling a date (7%).

Neil Sawyer, Managing Director of HP’s Northwest Europe market, which commissioned the research, commented: “Everyone is entitled to a lunch hour, but it seems many aren’t taking it as they should.

“But while it might seem like you are too busy to take a break, you can end up feeling more refreshed and therefore more productive than you would if you worked through.”

He added: “AI is set to be a significant driver of change in the future of work, increasing productivity and allowing workers to enjoy their jobs more by taking simple and repetitive tasks off their plates.”

The company is launching an AI PC to help office workers reduce time spent on admin. “Hopefully this will free up some time to allow more people to take the lunch break they are entitled to.”

The survey identified heavy workloads (53%) and looming deadlines (37%) were the main reasons for not taking a lunch break.  However, 6% confessed they skip it to appear busier, while 4% do so in an attempt to secure a promotion.

For those who do take the time to have a full lunch break nearly half (49%) admitted they feel more rejuvenated afterwards and a quarter claim they feel more productive