Lunch at work for productive employees

Buffet. Beef. Pie. Thursday-cakes. Big potions. Potential lunch-coma. For many work places this might sound familiar. But who takes the actual responsibility and does the nudging? The answer if: often no one. The reason for this is simply that we do not know or acknowledge the potential of the lunch break. More precisely it is about productivity, motivation and energy.

Let us for a second talk about buffets. It is rather simple but the human brain works in more primitive manners than we are willing to admit. If we have a big plate and a big spoon we automatically pour more food. If the warm, dense dish is on the buffet prior to the fresh vegetables, we tend to fill our plates with the former. After such a 30 minute lunch break we experience a so called lunch coma: a state where the food leaves us drained rather than energised. 

If the work place wishes to have more productive and energised employees, it is vital to facilitate it through different means. We cannot leave it to coinsidences and expect things to go our way. It pays off to be conscious of how we design a lunch break.

Several times I have been responsible for creating a space to facilitate more productive and motivated employees at the work space. Both several months of observation and survey have confirmed me about the validity of the theory. It is both banal and rare at the same time.

If you want to secure better conditions especially during lunch break to have as motivated and energised employees as possible, ask the following: 

• How's the overall acoustics and sound levels in the room/canteen?
• How's the setup of the buffet? Heavy dishes first or last? What's the size of the spoons?
• Are there enough options to include everyone without being overwhelming?
• Are there options to take and save for later in cause some people are not hungry during the official lunch break? 

Julia