Lunch “Break”

From USAToday:

Are you seeing/experiencing this?

As general sales manager for Clear Channel Communications here, Mary George Meiners used to take leisurely lunches with clients and associates — until an increasingly busy schedule robbed her of the time.

Now Meiners usually just buys a sandwich and eats it at her desk.

“Everyone’s busier all the way around,” she said. “A lot of our clients are business owners, and they’re slammed; our media buyers are slammed. Everybody’s trying to be more productive.”

Recent national surveys underscore the change.

Only a third of American workers say they take a lunch break, according to a Web survey conducted last year by Right Management, a human resources consulting firm. The survey also found that 65% of workers eat at their desks or don’t take a break at all.

CareerBuilder, another employment consultant, found that less than one-fifth of executives surveyed ate lunch at a sit-down restaurant, about 40% take a brown-bag lunch and 17% eat fast food.

Lawyer Keith Hunter agreed that lunches with colleagues seem like a thing of the past.

“Years ago, partners would go to lunch with associates, make a point of saying, ‘Hey, let’s do lunch,’ not one but a whole group of lawyers, and I just don’t see it as much,” said Hunter, who works at the Zielke law firm….

Experts say taking an uninterrupted meal break is healthy, increases job efficiency and improves morale, benefiting both employees and their companies. Research on creativity and productivity “shows a lot of good stuff comes about when employees get away from their work and their desks, and smart managers and smart companies find a way to make that happen,” Sussman said.