Take Your Lunch Break!

Widespread remote work has led to longer workdays and more emails and meetings for many employees. Combine that with a back-to-back meeting culture, and foregoing breaks can be hard to avoid. But taking real lunch breaks has been linked to improved job satisfaction and productivity. Company leaders need to create the psychological safety for employees to take time for lunch, which includes ensuring that employees don’t get penalized or viewed as less productive for doing so. They can also set a good example by taking lunch breaks themselves, and actively encourage break-taking by limiting meetings at a certain hour of the day and arranging recurring lunch events.