New Study: 90% of Employees Who Take Real Lunch Breaks Are More Productive

By Kayla Mahoney

For most American workers, a desire to perform their best in the workplace means long hours, few breaks, and being tethered to a workspace you barely get up from, unless its to change your sit-down desk to a standing one.

But it turns out this “work hard” mentality can be bad for your health and productivity.

The way things are

Studies show that 4 out of 5 Americans eat lunch at their desks and 56% of employees take a lunch break of only 30 minutes or less.

That means employees rarely, if ever, leave the exact same spot for 8+ hours a day. They might feel like they would miss something important, or be seen as less valuable to the company if they step away from their workspace.

Not only does this negatively affect productivity, it negatively affects overall work performance, physical, and mental well-being, as well as increases the risk of ruining expensive workplace equipment with food stains and spills.

An overworked employee is a low-performing employee. Could your company be suffering?

The way things should be

It’s been proven that almost 90% of Americans claim that taking a real honest to goodness lunch break helps them feel more refreshed and ready to get back to work.

The old adage, “work smarter, not harder” rings true now more than ever as regular lunch breaks have been shown to increase productivity, make employees feel more valued, and improve overall performance.

Getting physically out of the office and experiencing outside stimuli gives us humans a better creativity boost than any novelty desk toy ever could. Employees return to the office with new ideas, a sharper outlook, and a nourished mind.

Help your company make a change

You can completely transform your employees’ lunchtimes with Allset for Business, a convenient and easy way to feed your employees at local restaurants. They can have pre-ordered and pre-paid meals without the hassle of unpredictable wait times and lines. Meals can be company paid or co-paid so your employees know that their time and energy is valued and appreciated.

Make a positive change today and discuss regular lunch breaks with your team. Incentivizing a lunch break is good for workers, good for your company, and supports local restaurants and businesses.

So tell your employees to unshackle themselves from their desks, let their calls go to voicemail, and leave a few emails unanswered for a short while.

A happy, rested, well-fed workforce is a better workforce.