Take a break!

In the 1980s film ‘Wall Street’, Gordon Gekko famously claimed ‘lunch is for wimps’. That opinion struck a chord with real life Wall Street and now, 20 years on, with British workers. That’s because a recent survey carried out by Croner Research for YouGov suggested that 19% of working adults in the UK fail to take a break in the middle of the day. Whilst reports that lunch breaks are not being taken might seem good news for employers, concern is mounting in several quarters about the trend. Gillian Dowling, employment technical consultant at Croner, explains: “We all know that working long hours affects our ability to cope with our day to day roles and, as such, we are starting to see more people question their work life balance and taking appropriate action. However, what some employees are failing to realise is that not taking time out in the working day can, in the long term, affect their health and their ability to do the job.”