“Are you going to lunch?” Who has never heard this call at 11:30 a.m. (when you’re standing in front of the candy machine), at 1 p.m. or even at 2 p.m. when the company restaurant is closed and you have to find a plan B to eat? With the friendly pressure of the colleague in “let’s go now, right?” mode and the barely veiled disappointment when you find yourself in a small group or even alone, if everyone else is busy. This is how 54% of employees experience the lunch break as a moment they look forward to with pleasure, while 39% give it no more or less importance, indicates a study by Flashs (statistical survey organization) / Selvitys for Openeat.fr (April 2024).
If The law does not provide for a break specifically dedicated to lunchafter 6 uninterrupted hours of work, the employee must benefit from a break (unpaid) of at least 20 consecutive minutes. However, this traditional lunch break is in trouble: according to an Ipsos survey for Danone in 2024, 90% of French people say that they regularly: do not eat breakfast, skip a meal, eat in front of a screen, eat lunch without sitting down, eat at irregular times, snack during the day or eat too quickly. The rate peaks at 97% for 16-24 year-olds. “Eating in front of a screen”, contrary to the law (Art. R4228-19 of the Labor Code) would it be on the verge of dethroning the canteen ritual, and its long queues with trays in hand.
Teleworkers “organize themselves differently”
Already in 2015, Professor Nicholas Bloom, professor of economics at Stanford University, noted that in call centers in China, remote employees had increased their working hours, by reducing or eliminating breaks, particularly lunch breaks, reports the Financial Times. In other words, lunch is dead, decrees the expert: his analysis of data from Roam (virtual office platform) shows in fact that there is no drop in activity during lunch in the case of teleworking. “Usually, if you look at the activity data in offices – I looked at messaging, keystrokes, VPN, room reservations – you see a double peak. One activity peaks between 10 and 11 am and another from 2 to 4 pm. There is always a clear lunch break. In the data on teleworking activity, the lunch gap has disappeared – there is no drop for lunch.”
This does not only concern the Chinese or Americans: “the structure of French meals is potentially endangered by the advent of teleworking. While the majority of French people say they take a real lunch break when teleworking, a third of teleworkers do not take a real break, they eat very quickly, often behind their computer”, indicates Ipsos (Observatoire Alimentation & Familles de la Fondation Nestlé France, December 2021). Less than 30 minutes of lunch break for 52% of teleworkers compared to 45% when they are in the office (Flashs). What do they do instead? “When you work from home, you simply eat in front of your computer”, analyzes Nicholas Bloom. Workers “accumulate” time and then use it to pick up the children, do household chores or exercise. “You take the break, but you take it at other times”. The same observation in France for Léa Paolacci, research officer at Flashs: if teleworkers shorten meal times “they take advantage of it to finish household chores, do more sport. They organize themselves differently”.
Take your time or waste your time at lunch?
Among the reasons put forward by the expert: the widespread use of working in front of a screen, takeaway catering which facilitates this transformation of our habits but “where we no longer take the time to sit down”. She notes a fear of their purchasing power since 72% of employees also use their meal vouchers to pay for their food shopping and 73% of those who eat lunch at the office with homemade dishes do so for “economic reasons”. In addition, 29% of employees never go to a restaurant at lunchtime. In addition, 29% always eat lunch with the same colleagues, 15% change, 38% sometimes eat alone, sometimes with others and 18% are always alone at the table.
True or false conviviality? While 82% of employees believe that a group lunch allows them to strengthen their professional relationships, for 32% it is “an implicit obligation” that they would prefer to do without. Among them, 58% say they do not feel integrated into the team at all and 44% belong to “Gen Z” who are unraveling the ritual of the “group lunch break” and relegating the famous: “Who am I booking for?” to oblivion.
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