Lunch hours 'essential to productivity'

People who fail to take a lunch break from their sales job or other role could find their performance is hampered, a new study indicates.

A survey by Employment Law Advisory Services (ELAS) suggests that almost 90 per cent of workers in the UK do not take their allocated lunch entitlement in its entirety, with 52 per cent of people leaving their desk for just 30 minutes.

The Health and Safety Executive states that employees working for more than six hours are entitled to an uninterrupted break of 20 minutes.

But the humble lunch hour is beneficial to more than just staff wellbeing, according to ELAS.

Productivity can be damaged if employees are failing to take a break from their sales jobs or other work in the middle of the day, the body asserts.

"People whose entire days are spent at their desk cannot really switch off and successive studies such as ours have demonstrated that it can make them less relaxed, more stressed and, therefore, less able to deliver a good day's work," said Peter Mooney, head of consultancy with the organisation.

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Filed: 05-08-2008