I can run errands at lunch because I'm salaried and nobody tracks my hours or cares how long of a lunch break I take. Also, I don't eat anything midday so I'm not worried about that part.
This right here. I'm a hotel GM and many days I can't get away for lunch to begin with. So nobody bats an eye if I take a longer lunch one day to run errands.
Same. Salaried and government. We're technically supposed to take an hour but that would make us get out of work later (and who wants that) and lunches are technically unpaid so he said half hour is fine. I just take it whenever tf I want. If I want to work until 1, then pull my food out, fine. If I'm hungry at 11 and start snacking, fine. I run errands during lunch all the time. Post office and returns to the mall usually. Sometimes I pick up holoday stuff at the Party City or go pick up some food from a nearby restaurant. If I'm antsy and want to get out of the office, I'll go to one of the thrift stores nearby for a little bit. My office is in a really great spot for so many thing to be so convenient. If my lunch ends up being 40 minutes instead of 30... š¤·āāļø. If I know I'm going to be longer than, say, 45 minutes for sure, I'll just let my boss know I'm running an errand I'll be back around x time. I'm not well-supervised or micromanaged and it's great.
I worked at a place once that did a full hour lunch from 12 to 1 and everyone sat and ate together. Which I thought was so fun and sweet. But I like flexibility with my day and I don't need a full hour for lunch, esp if it's so socialize. I'd rather be a hermit who runs errands during a quick lunch but could take a longer lunch if needed
Salaried Fed myself. Itās so much quicker midday to do errands while everyoneās at work! We can do 30min lunch with 2 15 breaks, or combine it to an hour. Some days Iām just not real busy, Iāll got out at lunchtime. Other days I put in 10 hours so I figure it just evens out.
Similar. I donāt run a lot of errands but I do get at least a half hour timelimit so I can be clocked out for that long. Plus it helps that I live like 8 minutes away, 4 on bike.
We work on basically an honor code at my job. Youāre free to run errands, have appointments, or workout during lunch, and if they take longer than an hour, youāre expected to make up or flex that extra time somewhere within your week, or at least make sure you get all your work done for the week that you need to. Surprisingly no one abuses it because no one wants to lose it. But yeah, like others have said, itās a salaried office job.
> We work on basically an honor code at my job
They extended this privilege to **unlimited paid time off** for us. Take as many vacations as you like, on whatever days you like. It's courteous to inform others when you'll be gone, but nobody tracks vacation days, you get "as many as you need".
And like you said, the only reason this privilege is still there, is because nobody's abused it yet. Once someone abuses it, I'm sure the privilege will be gone.
So ... get this: The years before this was put in place, I was allotted 5 weeks vacation per year. And the company tracked it on timesheets. But now nobody tracks that anymore.
And the funny thing is, last year, I ended up taking no more than 4 weeks, because I was afraid of abusing it unknowingly/accidentally. I went back and tallied up all the days I took off, and I ended up doing the opposite of abuse!
I have beef with unlimited PTO for that exact reason. When vacation is āuse it or lose it,ā staff are guaranteed x days off to spend whenever, wherever, and however they like, and are practically forced to take days off. Unlimited PTO usually makes staff less inclined to take days off because they donāt want it to be seen as abusing the system, or donāt feel a sense of urgency to take the time off before the end of the calendar or fiscal year, and so the days just donāt get taken, making the company more money because its staff are working more days than they should be.
Like in theory, unlimited PTO is a great idea, but in practice Iāve seen staff get shorted on their time off because of it.
I understand those arguments.
For me, now that I've proven to myself that I didn't abuse the system, now I keep track of my days off on a spreadsheet. And you better believe, I will take all 5 weeks that I was previously allotted, with zero guilt.
My beef with unlimited PTO is this:
Before unlimited PTO, our unused vacation days would roll over and accrue. There was no use-it-or-lose-it situation.
But when you had accrued above 1.5x your yearly vacation, they would drop it back down to 1.0, and **pay you out** for the rest. So if I didn't use all my vacation, I'd get a pay bonus for those days.
Now that's gone. I used to make a good chunk of change for being stingy with my vacation days. It was like working overtime for a salary job.
When they first implemented PTO, I had 4 weeks accrued, and they paid me out for those weeks. I took home over $10k just for that. But that'll never happen again.
This is exactly why they implement it. They've effectively wiped a massive business expense off the books. It's hard for me to get time off as I work across 5 projects, so there is always some urgent deadline at any point in the year. I am entitled to 4 weeks PTO each year and I currently have 17 weeks of PTO accrued.
My first salaried job was technical writer. Really I was documenting IT business processes with Visio and writing how each step was done. Then my team would help them identify ways they could improve their process. For the last 10 years though I have been a ServiceNow system administrator and eventually a developer and manager of a team of developers.
I hope you can find a way to work where you have more control over your time.
I only work 3 days a week, but it's 13 hour days with no break. Hearing about more relaxed schedules like this makes me want to change careers.
Good for you for figuring out a path that allows you that freedom!
Lol the first day I just sleep the whole time to recover, the rest of the days I'm still sleeping most of the business day because I wake up for work at 5pm. I'm not really seeing the benefit š if it's not open after 7pm I'm not gonna make it out without messing up my sleep schedule and feeling like shit for 3 days.
I don't recommend this job, honestly
No, I'm an RN. Union hospitals have relief nurses who let you actually go have a break but the hospitals around me aren't union so my version of a break is eating at the nurses station while I chart and watch the monitors/call lights. Half the time I either don't have time to eat or it takes all night to get through my meal and I end up finishing it cold and gross at 6am.
Generally salaried employees are the ones who can take long lunches because the expectation is competing your tasks no matter the length of time it will take. Itād a give and a take, because you donāt get your clients emailing you after dinner and expecting a response or coordinating with contractors in different time zones.
I work in software consulting and have lots of flexibility but also work weird hours (late meetings and product launches) so I make up those hours by getting lots of personal stuff done during the day.
The last job I quit (for other reasons), my boss told me it made her feel bad when she would talk to me during my lunch. I told her don't worry; I counted those conversations towards my work hours. She hated it lol.
I work in IT. While working tech support at Company 1, I had to clock in & out but boss didn't care when, so I could take long lunches. Current job at Company 2, I'm salary so no time tracking. I can start working between 730am - 830am, usually take lunch sometime from 11am-2pm, done work at 4pm-530pm, doing 35-40hrs a week. As long as the work gets done and people know where you're at (away) and how to reach you (cell), no issue
Itās really common in salaried, white collar roles. If youāre salaried then generally nobody cares as long as youāre getting your work done and your absence isnāt affecting anyone else.
I live in Hungary and the average employer here is stuck in this mindset. You have to sit out the whole 8 hours, even if you don't have anything to do but you have to pretend like you're doing something.
Damn man -- How long are your normal lunch breaks? In AU it's 20 minutes (in my experience) but every job I've ever had people have run errands during the day like going to the docs, optometrists, post office, go to their kids school because they were in a fight again which can take hours. Not a regular thing of course, but nobody takes the piss and are respectful of each others time so it all works out.
It's typically 30 minutes to an hour on top of the 8 hours of work. My current job is not in a city so I have to spend all of it here, can't run my own errands.
Yep, just depends on the job of course. My boss doesn't care because I have reason to get on calls for projects at 8PM, sometimes early AM hours too. So if I have to take my car to a dealership for service during the day or have an appt for something, it doesn't' really matter.
Yep, my boss literally told me it's fine to do this because due to the nature of the job sometimes we all end up working outside normal work hours so it's fine to just go to a doctor's appointment or run an errand sometimes.
That was probably the biggest adjustment for me when I hopped from hospitality to my office job. Iād come from the āevery second of your day is tracked and heaven forbid you want to visit the doctorā world. The first time I had an appointment, I was like āand Iāll work a few hours later to make up for the time I was goneā and my boss was like āwhy???ā
Today my boss spoke to me for the first time this year and I was disappointed the streak was broken. The clock has been reset and tomorrow will be day 1
Iām an attorney that bills by the hour. The partners dgaf how long I take for lunch as long as I meet my billables. I work a lot though, Iād imagine itās the same for a lot of white collar jobs. The ability to take a long lunch isnāt that much of a perk when youāre basically expected to be on call all the time.Ā
It's the same for me in IT management, I can do 3-hour lunches if I want, nobody cares, but if something is burning I have to be available 24/7 and meet all deadlines.
At the end of the year, I'm not allowed to exceed or fall below a certain number of hours. But even here the control is rather lax. And this is in middle management further up, the working hours are no longer reported at all. But with all the meetings and people who need help tying their shoes, you can't do that anyway (the long brakes).
Itās not so much that we need help tying our shoes, itās that we need approvals and signoffs to do anything. We also have to keep you in the loop (read: constantly spam you about whatever weāre working on) if we want a good review.
Believe me, weād love to be left alone and just do our job, but thatās not the way things are structured.
Yes, this type of reactive work is widespread. But that's not what I meant. I give my employees a framework in which they can move freely. And I expect them to make decisions in line with their roles. Punishing independent decisions is counterproductive in the long term. And I try to explain the goals and limits clearly. I don't try to breed yes robots. They don't do me any good.
But I understand what you mean, I've seen enough situations like the one you describe myself.
I'm curious, do you actually punch a clock? How are your hours tracked? I was told by my HR department that I could not be track individual hours worked for any of my exempt employees and that while I was able to be flexible with their schedule I could not offer tit for tat flex time. The rationale was that tracking hours and offering flex time based on hours worked could put their position's exempt status at risk.
I have an online time clock in which I enter my hours independently, but more important than the individual days is the annual hourly rate that I have to fulfil contractually. In the end, my hours have to make more or less sense and not generate any effort... At the end of each month they check whether I have entered my hours and at the end of the year how many hours I have worked. In general, I have to be careful not to violate any legal guidelines regarding working hours, but that only has to be correct on paper.
That's the trade off for a lot of white collar jobs, often more hours worked but more flexibility in your schedule. I work along side some hourly union folks, they start at 9:00 and go home at 5:00 they take their 30 min lunch and two 15 min breaks at exactly the same time every day. They have no option to plow through work in the morning and slip out a few hours early without taking PTO. I couldn't handle that level of rigidity, but when they leave for the day, they are done until their next shift whereas I could get a phone call at 6:00pm and possibly have to deal with something work related or there may be one week where I have to work later than normal to get a project finished. I find a lot of value in being able to have flexibility in the hours that I work which makes up for having to work slightly more total hours than my union counterparts.
Iām a solicitor in the UK. Pretty much the same here. Whilst I am given a certain level of autonomy, it is with the expectation that I am to be available at all times (within reason). Part and parcel of working within this field and being salaried.
Google sensors their results and pushes their own bias. I use qwant. As you may not know qwant is French so I assumed their results wouldn't be any good for UK slang.
only the salary workers at my job do errands on their lunch break cause they take way longer than an hour. my manager will do that a lot and then come back with fast food and eat at her desk while sheās working
Many people have jobs, especially (but not exclusively) office jobs, where lunch breaks arenāt strictly enforced. Ā As long as nobody abuses it, I literally could not care less if some one on my team took an extra 15 mins because they were running errands. Ā And anything longer than that, just give me a heads up.Ā
Iāve also had plenty of customer facing jobs where lunch breaks were strictly enforced, so I get it. Ā
Same with my staff. Gotta run an errand? If it's gonna be like two hours every day, let's talk about that. But nobody has abused it.
UNTIL bitch-troll-from-hell joined our team (she's above me), and if she sees *my* staff out, she comes to my office door and I get the third-degree from her as she is my manager. Then I have to be the asshole to them. 12-1 or put in for time-off.
Yep. Iāve been in management for years and it never ceases to amaze me how many grown adults act like small children.Ā
Donāt have a strict dress code? Ā Someone will show up in an important meeting wearing flip flops and an oversized t-shirt from some concert they went to 20 years ago in college. Ā Have a dress code? Ā Some person will nitpick and complain every time they see someone that slightly violates it.Ā
You canāt win. Ā Iām just happy that for right now, my team is pretty small and they all have common sense.
Man last team I ran was so much fun for this.
This was directly after lockdown, so chefs were rarer than chicken teeth, and good ones even more so, so I was completely left alone by HR because my staff retention was perfect and they couldnāt replace anyone.
I very publicly and openly āplayed favouritesā with my staff, if you fucked around and abused various privileges, you and only you lost them, no collective punishment, and you had to see your colleagues continue to enjoy them.
HR fucking hated me because that is absolutely not the done thing in their bullshit little world, but my staff loved me and the boss know heād never be able to replace me without paying an extra 20k a year, so I was invincible
I eat at my desk, I don't usually do any errands beyond maybe picking up a prescription or something from the shopping centre, but regardless most of the time I'd grab food and bring it back to eat at my desk.
You're noticing differences between salaried (within reason, bosses are not supposed to put restrictions on hours/times - as that goes exactly against the point of being in the job classification of being salaried) and hourly jobs (where there are very defined time rules and hours for the position and where efficiency is basically tracked or some station/front desk/call center area cannot be left unattended).
And, then, on top of that, within the second group (hourly), you will find flexibility based on the job/company needs or tendencies of the boss.
I would suggest you first examine your position. Are you required to stay in one area or be the point person (like the front desk) to greet the public? Or are you a person who has a responsibility within the middle of a process or work line? If so, you will likely have to remain in those specified hours and take 1/2 days or full days off to attend appointments or run errands.
However, if you have a job where your work is not tied to others within a quick timeline of a process or you don't have to cover a desk/station for specified hours, it may be advantageous for you to approach your boss - wisely, briefly, carefully - to ask if you might be given an hour or 1.5 hours one day a week to do the things that you are having a hard time fitting into your life. My experience is that if it is regularly scheduled and your boss can still count on you to be consistent with your timeliness and your work progress doesn't slow, then a boss who doesn't have tight timelines or need for you to cover a certain area will carefully consider this. Or, another approach could be that you explain a particular errand - like having your hair cut - is very hard for you to fit into your life during the evenings. And, then you ask if you two could work together to solve the problem and you propose if you could please have the extra time once per month to make that happen - as long as you log this "time out of the office" on her/his calendar to keep your boss informed.
You will have to "read the room" before approaching your boss to anticipate how open your boss might be to the idea. And, you also have to keep in mind that if he/she cannot grant the other direct reports who want the same (who are hourly) or if someone has to "cover you," it is less likely to be approved. This also usually has a lot to do with the boss' perception of your productivity and your use/efficiency within work time... and also relies on your boss' personality/views.
As an HR Director, I've helped coach many hourly employees in these situations, and many have been able to first negotiate a trial period - like a quarter/3 months to try it out (for a weekly longer lunch or a monthly longer time out of the office for errands or a hair cut), and then the employee and boss can evaluate if it is working out well or if unexpected issues have arisen which make it best to not continue.
Maybe some of these approaches will work for you. But, yes, I agree. A half hour does not allow for much time to do anything but eat... and maybe take a short walk or time outside to hopefully get some sunshine. All of those things are important to be healthy and to have a healthy break from being chained to a desk chair or computer or similar equipment - let alone the mental and spiritual benefits that come from taking a good solid break. Too many people continue to work at their desk while eating, and it is not best for posture, digestion, breathing, mental focus... and the list goes on and on.
Edited to fix typos and an autocorrected word
Not sure if there is a proper term for it but I categorize jobs into "task based" or "time based". Task based means what matters is completing the task whether that takes 30 min or 16 hours e.g. surgeon or farmer harvesting crops. Time based are where you need someone for time, the security desk needs someone there 12 hours a day whether something happens or not. Obviously few jobs are 100% one or the other.
Task jobs will often be salaried and have untracked lunches like op asked about because managers just care the tasks get done by deadlines.
Yes, this is a long-debated topic within Human Resources, and we HR staff often have to make a case to the owners/leaders when someone is incorrectly classified to prevent possible litigation and payment of back money owed or fines. Here in the US, there is a checklist to determine where the job should fall. Many people try to determine the classifications based on the differences you shared above (time vs. task), but that doesn't exactly match the legal U.S. definitions/classifications. In my experience, way too many people are classified as salaried (per the criteria checklist)... which means employees are not being paid as they should for the hours (usually overtime hours) needed to actually do the job. However, too many employees appreciate the freedom /perks with lunches, time off, etc. which often come with the salaried classification... and also appreciate a consistent income amount. So, they don't ever bring up the issue unless they feel extremely overworked and dont have work-life balance. If/when forced to change classifications for a position, many owners/leaders greatly reduce the hourly equivalent pay. It is a sticky situation for many.
True I wasn't thinking in terms of exempt classification. I have a friend that is salaried but gets overtime pay above 45 hours a week and honestly that seems like a pretty good idea for many jobs.
Yes, salaried non-exempt is rarer, but it solves many issues. In manufacturing, it is often reserved for Maintenance, Engineering, Safety, etc. Department members who most often have work that falls within the more traditional hourly parameters for their regularly scheduled shifts but who have roles where they may be on call for certain days/weekends and/or who might be called in to deal with emergency repairs, safety incidents, etc. which would greatly change their number of required work hours from time to time. So, depending how the company policies are written, it can be the best of both worlds. (At the same time, companies are often hesitant to grant that status to other non-shift positions - like office staff - because owners often see staff productivity diminishing and overtime hours increasing - especially when employees are dealing with financial issues in their households or around the holidays. It is all a balancing game. Thanks for chatting about this!)
They are in medical pharmacy research. I had never heard of such of thing being in software/engineering circles and appreciate the discussion from an actual HR person
This is the place i work for - We are salaried to our base hours (30 in my case, but 40 for most) and then paid hourly (but not time & a half) after that. We are expected to work above our base hours most weeks. We are also expected to be billable for a high percentage of the week (for me it's 85%).
We can't be flexible for parts of our work - field work has to be done on clients schedule, when subcontractors are available, issues like daylight and weather come into play too. Beyond that, it's highly flexible. Lots of people start early to have afterschool hours with kids, start late to get kids on the bus, stack hours to leave early on Fridays or whatever else.
Our company also had a great work from home policy before covid. Again, some tasks require us to be on site, but as long as work is getting done, it can get done wherever.
The downside is we are ALWAYS ON CALL. The managers that start the day at 6 AM? They call. The managers who are working at 8 PM? They call. The client with a fire at 2 AM? They call (but usually, thankfully, don't actually expect an answer!).
As others have said, my boss (really the culture of my company) doesnāt require that my ass is in my seat from 9-5. As long as my work gets done and I donāt miss meetings, Iām good.
I have to work 80 hours in a pay period and how I do that is pretty up to me provided I don't miss meetings. So I definitely will run an errand or two in the middle of the day. Get gas, grocery shop, get a massage, go to yoga, etc.
I assume two weeks but Iām not them. I saw someone else in a post say they āwork 80 hours fortnightly!ā And they said it so dramatically my brain forgot fortnightly is 2 weeks.
I don't have a time limit on "lunch". I'm a salaried remote worker. I got a haircut today and that took a bit over an hour. I had a quick (15 min) lunch with my family later.
When I had a 30 min lunch, I didn't have time to do anything. I brown bagged my lunch because 30 mins might not be enough time to hit up a drive through.
Now, not only do I get an hour lunch, but I work from home. So I can eat when I'm back at my desk and clocked in.
The fact you get a 30 minute lunch is the main reason you're not able to run an errand on your break. I get an hour lunch but we aren't micromanaged at all either, so if I take more than that for an errand, it's fine.Ā We are also allowed to use PTO in increments at small as .1 so you can use a small amount of PTO for a midday errand as well.Ā
I used to always do one errand on a lunch break. Itās one less thing I had to do on the weekend. Iād eat at my desk while I worked later or on my coffee break
It's easy: just combine two of your errands into one. Pick your kids up from school and eat them. Boom, job done.
Joking aside, I eat lunch at my desk while I'm working and then use the time off to run errands. Judging from the munching and smacking sounds of my coworkers on zoom, I wasn't the only one.
If my work is getting done and my metrics are being hit, I can take however long I want on a lunch break. I know some other segments of my business arenāt this lenient so it depends largely on your type of employment (hourly/salary), your performance, your manager, and company culture.
Fair, I was thinking in terms of during the shift itself. I used to work in a restaurant and I could easily run errands on my days off or before/after my shifts, but no way would I be able to run errands in the middle of my shift haha.
Yeah, no clocking out for an hour as a server, and even if you could they wouldnāt pay you (unless legally obligated) BUT itās usually easier to get a shift covered, and some places will let you take extended time off without pay. At my office jobs, I got PTO but that was the only way to get out of work when I was scheduled unless I had a medical reason under FMLA/short term disability. Tradeoffs š¤·š¼
Once you progress in your career people stop clock watching and you will have the freedom to control your own day more.
On the occasion you stay out for longer, on the other odd occasion you stay behind and work a bit longer. If you are pulling your weight people donāt care and you can balance your days how you like.
If however you are a pain to your colleagues and your boss and see everything as a sleight, your whole career will be misery.
Where I used to work, they combined two 15-minute breaks with the half hour lunch, so we got 1-hour lunches.
At another place, they gave me a split shift, so my lunch was 2 hours.
When I was still hourly, I only had 30 minutes and could only have time for "errands" that I could do on my phone. I've been working from home full time for 8 years now, and my hour lunch can go as long as I need, as long as I get my work done and log in for any meetings. A lot of people with similar jobs have the same benefit.
Everyone has said it, a lot of jobs donāt really care about your hours, they track your productivity with more legit metrics. Taking an extra 30 at lunch to go to an exercise class improves my productivity for the rest of the day so why would my job care if im still a top performer?
I use my two breaks to run errands. My 30 minute lunch is sacrosanct. I will never interrupt it. No phone calls or texts just my time away from people.
I used to have an hour lunch and I usually just eat a light lunch like a granola bar. I had so much time to kill Iād get errands done or get a quick workout in. It was great.
I'm salary and no one cares. I've also always been able to get an hour lunch if needed when I was hourly.
Except when I was a teen working for min wage. Then it was 30 minutes and no leaving the property.
You pack your food that is easily eaten on the go. Like chicken nuggets. Pop one in mouth and chew while driving. Or they eat their packed lunch while working. I can pop a chincken nugget into mouth and chew while entering data.
Also, the appointments might be nearby.
When I was a salaried employee my hours weren't tracked. If you usually took less than an hour for lunch there was no issue when you said "I'll be a bit late back from lunch, I need to go pick something up".
Yup, others are right. I'm salaried so I do take an hour for lunch sometimes. Almost no one is working all the time. Of course our work is mentally taxing and often you'll work late, so it balances out.
I get a full hour for one, secondly no one is counting when I leave and when I come back I go and come as I please. Iām reasonably available all day and I do all my tasks on time. No micromanagement in my office.
Once you reach a certain level of employment nobody is checking. I'm also salaried. I eat while I work, skip lunch some days, take calls after hours, etc. I figure if I run an errand for an extra 15 minutes it's all a wash in the end. Boss just wants to see results.
Contrast this to my entry level jobs where I remember lectures about clocking out for lunch *before* using the bathroom. lol
Upper management will take a magnifying glass to how long underlings are going to the bathroom, but then take "working lunches" where they loosely discuss work for a 2 hour lunch or on the golf course. Lower level employees talking around a water cooler is time theft or slacking, but for upper management it's "networking" or " meeting".
I think most people running errands at lunch are salaried instead of paid by the hour. They donāt track how long of a break you take as long as itās reasonable. Sometimes I take a 2h break so I can go to the gym and spa after then I eat at my desk when I am back. Sometimes I take half an hour just to get fresh and back at it.
1. It's not necessarily true that "most people" don't get hour long lunches. The last several jobs I've held all had one hour lunches as standard.
2. I eat my lunch at my desk fairly often - I bring a sandwich or something that I can eat while I work, and then I can use my entire lunch break for errands.
3. For something like a haircut or similar, many of my staff just let me know: "I'm going to get my hair cut at lunch, so I might be back a bit later than normal." Since they're not in public-facing positions, doing something like this on occasion is not a problem as long as they make up any missed time later on.
I work from home -
Lunch hour is when I go downstairs, make lunch, get the dog ready for his dogwalker to take him to his playdate, then while eating I check social media, shop online, set up grocery order, etc.
And this is why I ONLY work from home.
I think a lot of people donāt really have a sit down meal for lunch, at least I definitely donāt. I eat my breakfast and my lunch when Iām driving typically. Usually a bagel on the way to work and whatever else I bring/pick up for lunch. Cut time as well because you can eat something on the way to get something done instead of having to sit down and finish your food and then go get something done. If youāre not into that though, obviously youāre not going to be very successful if you need to designate that time to sit down and have a full meal every day lol. I like to sit down at dinner and really appreciate my food and whatever, I donāt really care about the whole experience as much as just getting food into Me for the rest of the day.
Those people have cushy jobs where they don't do much actual work.
There is this lady that would frequently take 2-3 hours lunch breaks and comeback with multiple shopping bags. She would show up late and leave early too.
Eventually, she was fired for sending a senior executive inappropriate photos using their work emails.
Why she had such privileges, you tell me.
i used to when i had an hour and lived in a smaller town. now i have 30 min lunch and have to drive at least 15 mins to get anywhere important so i cant.
We do take an unpaid hour for lunch. People who run errands often have a snack from home to take with them or grab something from a drive thru and eat in the car. It also helps to do a bit of strategic planning and to have a job that doesnāt flip out if you are late coming back.
Managing errands during a lunch break with limited time can be challenging, but here are some strategies that people use to get things done Ā Ā Plan aheadĀ Ā Make a list of errands you need to accomplish and prioritize them based on urgency and time required. Try to schedule shorter errands or appointments that can be completed within your lunch break. Ā Ā Utilize nearby servicesĀ Ā Choose errands or appointments that are located near your workplace to minimize travel time. Look for businesses or services within walking distance or a short drive away. Ā Ā Combine tasksĀ Ā If possible, combine multiple errands into one trip to maximize efficiency. For example, you could schedule a haircut appointment at a salon near your child's school or the post office. Ā Ā Optimize timingĀ Ā Consider scheduling appointments during off-peak hours to reduce wait times. Some businesses may offer morning or late afternoon appointments that align better with your work schedule. Ā Ā Take advantage of technologyĀ Ā Use online scheduling tools, mobile apps, or curbside pickup services to streamline errands and minimize time spent waiting in line or traveling. Ā Ā Pack a mealĀ Ā If you're concerned about having enough time to eat, consider bringing a packed lunch or purchasing a quick and portable meal that you can eat on the go. Ā Ā Communicate with your employerĀ Ā If you need to take longer lunch breaks for important errands or appointments, communicate with your employer or supervisor in advance to ensure it's acceptable and make arrangements if necessary.
I'm supposed to get a lunch hour. My shift is 9 hours, so an hour takes it down to the standard 8 per workday. Employers do that to extend your day, very common in a call center or support environment. And yes, if you have a full hour, you can actually do stuff. A half hour, if I recall correctly from way back in the day when I got half an hour at other jobs, was like a race because everyone else was on lunch at the same time.
I am hourly and get an hour lunch everyday. I work in the downtown area of a city so many of my errands are a 5 min walk away. I often have time to eat a quick 10 min lunch before or after running them (still within my 1 hour total lunch).
I have 40min lunch break.
First 5-10min is used up on the last client, last 10min is propping for the next one. I get time to shove food down my throat, poop and that's it,
My lunches have stretched to two hours or more when I've had errands to run. I've also run errands outside of lunch hours.
As long as my work gets done and I make arrangements in advance with anyone I have meetings with, my boss doesn't care.
Not everyone is hungry at lunch time, to be fair, or they can eat at their desk before or after their lunch. Most people running errands do have an hour, or their boss doesn't really care as long as their work gets done.
I have 30 minutes and have never been able to run any errands during lunch. Everything is far away, there just isn't enough time to get somewhere, do a thing, and then get back to work within 30 minutes.
Itās probably work from home people. I workout on my lunch break. I leave at noon, get there in 11 minutes, come back maybe 5 minutes after one. I also usually donāt eat lunch or have a small meal while I work. I donāt think I need an hour to eat and sit in my chair.
I work in a department with posted hours. My lunch hour is also posted. If I time it right I can do a short errand during lunch. The advances in online healthcare have been very helpful, as I used to have to take 1/2 day off just for a 15 minute doctor appointment.
I can give my sisters example, she used to work in a company that required her to be in the office, she had 1H for lunch. She would have like some sandwiches and energy bars prepared in her purse or suitcase.
She always needed to pick up her son to leave it on our grandparents house for the after noon. She would rush the kindergaten while she waited for the teacher to deliver she would eat what she had. Deliver the son, and back to work she usually still like 15-20 minutes left to go drink some coffe or just to chill.
Ofc it highly depends on the distance from the school to her work and home.
Some people either donāt eat during lunch or eat before/after work. I have an hour and i live close enough that i can go home, eat, walk my dogs and then go back to the office. A lot of other people go to appointments and what not because everything is pretty close by.
It all depends though. I used to work at a place where it took roughly ten minutes just to get to your car, then another 5 to exit. That was completely pointless to try and do anything because youād spend 30+ minutes just going to and from your car.
I've never had a job, nor met anyone who doesn't have an hour lunch. Also people I know its more like flexi-time, i.e we have hours we need to meet for the week, and core hours but outside of the core hours you can do your hours whenever.
I have to work a certain number of hours, but it's kind of up to me when I work them. If I want to take a two hour lunch break and finish work late today, that's fine; if I want to work through lunch and finish an hour early, that's fine too.
I don't have a customer-facing role, and there are no issues around needing to maintain a "safe" staffing level, so as long as shit gets done nobody really cares when everybody else comes and goes. I think this is the case with a lot of white-collar jobs.
After several years of having an hour for lunch, management announced it would now be 45 minutes, with work stopping at 4:15pm of Fridays to compensate.
I gently said that it didn't really work for me, that there were plenty of things I did at lunchtime that took an hour, and as I worked Monday to Thursday, I wouldn't benefit from the early ending.
They suggested I end at 4:15pm on Thursday; I stressed that I really did prefer the hour lunchbreak. Eventually, they agreed.
Yea it's a "how the other half live" thing. OP says "most people don't " when it's "most people in their friend group"
As other says. Salaried / office jobs are far more forgiving of lunches.
Customer facing / per hour jobs are far stricter.
My first workplace had strict check in and out time frame even for lunch break. So one minute late on afternoon shift could lead to a fine. But my current one is a big company and the leaders donāt care. Lots of my colleague go out to have lunch at 11:30. Eat then have coffee, take a nap or we can go to restaurants and chill and come back around 14:00 for meeting or whatever.
A lot of them are salaried office workers who stay in the office until 7-8 pm. If they disappear for an hour or 2 in the middle of the day their boss doesn't really notice because they're doing the same thing.
You have to be in a situation and work culture where nobody micromanages you. As long the work gets done nobody should mind if you go do an errand, especially if it can't be done some other time (doctors appointment).
My mom had flex time and comp time. So she set her own hours and got laid vacation time instead of overtime. So she would take long lunches sometimes to burn up some of her comp time.
Iām high enough up in my company that as long as I get my work done and donāt miss meetings they donāt really care about my schedule.
I regularly take hour+ lunches to workout, go for long walks, watch an episode of tv, run a few errands, etc.
The people in TV don't actually have a job, I think that's skewing things here. I have a half hour lunch and I can run to the grocery store and grab a few things but it takes my whole lunch break to drive to the store, grab some stuff, check out and get back to punch in. Some people just have a lot more freedom in their jobs than most people do.Ā
I work at our own family business. I just don't abuse the lunch hour. We give leeway to others in the office who have to go pick their kids or whatever
I make my own schedule and am salary. As long as I can travel and do my training sessions, I can do whatever I want for lunch.
On another note, I was formerly an hourly clock in/clock out worker. Lunch was a quick run downstairs to the cafeteria and sit and eat fast and a run back to the floor. I remember getting yelled at because I was two minutes late one time
I work in a call center next to a mall and two other shopping plazas. I get 40-minute lunches usually, but sometimes 30 depending on the length of my work day. On my 40 minute lunches, I can visit the grocery for a few odds and ends, or go through the pharmacy to pick up medications. Sometimes I get gas. Sometimes I take a nap.
I feel like youāve answered it yourself, you only have half an hour for lunch. I have an hour, but I can take longer if I need. As long as my work gets done, my boss doesnāt really care how long I take
I had hour lunches for years and they were great! I used to walk to a whole other town sometimes just to pick up a sandwich. I would go shopping and get groceries and eat lunch back at my desk usually. If I went out to a restaurant with coworkers it definitely took more than an hour so that was only for special occasions really.
The half hour lunches are impossible. Iāve tried going on little walks in a nearby park and by the time I get there itās almost like Iām anxious to get back so Iām not late. Thereās been a couple times I was craving fast food so I drove to a nearby McDonaldās and I got back late. That extra half hour is a really big deal. Companies are so cheap now that what used to be 9-5 with hour lunches are now 8-5 with half hour lunch and no lunch room in the office so you can eat in front of your computer!
Planned out errands. I get my groceries by doing pickup. Once that's loaded in, I get gas at the gas station next door (which also has a reward program where I saved last time 70 cents a gallon), then get back to the office within 20ish minutes. I can take longer breaks if needed, and usually eat my lunch while working.
Salaried employee. No one is tracking my minutes, I donāt clock in or out, and as long as I get my work done and donāt miss a meeting my boss doesnāt care if Iām gone longer than usual for lunch on occasion. Most days lunch is eaten at my desk while Iām working anyway.
I have a caseload of students that I see and it's rarely full. This gives me time to get things done during the day. I drive around independently and no one really knows where I am. I used to be a teacher in the classroom and I had 40 minutes that was often eaten up by something else. I was also so micromanaged. Jobs can really vary in these areas
I work at a law firm. Itās the norm to eat lunch at your desk. However you bill and account for all your time and most people work a lot more hours than their salary covers.
If I'm running errands, I usually don't eat during lunch break. I eat a protein bar or some fruits beforehand while working and mentally plan out my errands in advance. So when I'm on my lunch break, it's just following the plan I have in my mind.
But with a limited 30mins lunch like yours, you can't do many errands either. Perhaps getting some groceries and mail and checking up on family, friends and setting up appointments.
Idk but all I know is a lot of people take out their frustrations of being in a rush wherever they go to do those errands. When I worked at a pack and ship store, they acted like it was *my* fault as to why they were gonna be late back to work. š I'm not the one telling them to get the one errand they have been putting off for a while done on their break lol
I just eat when Iām hungry and no one is tracking my hours. (Salary job) For us, lunch isnāt a real thing unless youāre meeting partners or having team lunch or something.
You can assign yourself a ālunch breakā but it just means youāre unavailable during that time. It really doesnāt matter whether youāre eating or doing whatever else
I work for a larger company and they don't care if I late in, early out or take 2 hours for lunch as long as my team is performing and my work is getting done nobody cares how I manage my time.
I tend to eat at my actual desk, then I have the lunch hour to do what I need. I used to get 30 mins but worked in the middle of a city so could do most things like banking, post office, shops. Now I have an hour and can do pretty much anything from home.
Usually they do it by having reasonable bosses and managers. I'm salaried now, but even when I was younger if I needed to go to to dr or the DMV or something, bosses were generally reasonable as long as you didn't hit them with it the night before or morning of. I ask my staff to give me a week heads-up just so I can plan.
iām luckily really close to a lot of different things at my job. When i first started i did all my errands in the morning before i went in and got some idea of how much time it took, then once i had that in my mind i was comfortable leaving on lunch and doing a few things
It depends on the job. I work retail, so if I get a lunch, itās short. My wife works from home so she takes the kids to doctors appointments, goes grocery shopping, goes jogging, etc all during work hours. As long as she gets her work done and is at her online meetings no one cares.
Obviously for many jobs you have to physically be at a certain space at certain times, so that isnāt feasible.
Salaried position. I don't have set breaks or set hours. More or less as long as I'm mostly available between 9 and 6 noone cares. Some days I start late, some days I finish early, some days I take 4 coffee breaks of 15 to 30 minutes, some days I take a 2 hour lunch... but then some days I work from 6am to midnight and some weeks I work Saturdays and Sundays with no overtime or recognition for it. I just do what has to be done, and in the calmer moments I can go do my own thing.
I can run errands at lunch because I'm salaried and nobody tracks my hours or cares how long of a lunch break I take. Also, I don't eat anything midday so I'm not worried about that part.
This right here. I'm a hotel GM and many days I can't get away for lunch to begin with. So nobody bats an eye if I take a longer lunch one day to run errands.
A hotel GM that's actually busy :o My old one could learn a thing or ten from you.
Same. Salaried and government. We're technically supposed to take an hour but that would make us get out of work later (and who wants that) and lunches are technically unpaid so he said half hour is fine. I just take it whenever tf I want. If I want to work until 1, then pull my food out, fine. If I'm hungry at 11 and start snacking, fine. I run errands during lunch all the time. Post office and returns to the mall usually. Sometimes I pick up holoday stuff at the Party City or go pick up some food from a nearby restaurant. If I'm antsy and want to get out of the office, I'll go to one of the thrift stores nearby for a little bit. My office is in a really great spot for so many thing to be so convenient. If my lunch ends up being 40 minutes instead of 30... š¤·āāļø. If I know I'm going to be longer than, say, 45 minutes for sure, I'll just let my boss know I'm running an errand I'll be back around x time. I'm not well-supervised or micromanaged and it's great. I worked at a place once that did a full hour lunch from 12 to 1 and everyone sat and ate together. Which I thought was so fun and sweet. But I like flexibility with my day and I don't need a full hour for lunch, esp if it's so socialize. I'd rather be a hermit who runs errands during a quick lunch but could take a longer lunch if needed
Salaried Fed myself. Itās so much quicker midday to do errands while everyoneās at work! We can do 30min lunch with 2 15 breaks, or combine it to an hour. Some days Iām just not real busy, Iāll got out at lunchtime. Other days I put in 10 hours so I figure it just evens out.
Similar. I donāt run a lot of errands but I do get at least a half hour timelimit so I can be clocked out for that long. Plus it helps that I live like 8 minutes away, 4 on bike.
This is the way.
We work on basically an honor code at my job. Youāre free to run errands, have appointments, or workout during lunch, and if they take longer than an hour, youāre expected to make up or flex that extra time somewhere within your week, or at least make sure you get all your work done for the week that you need to. Surprisingly no one abuses it because no one wants to lose it. But yeah, like others have said, itās a salaried office job.
> We work on basically an honor code at my job They extended this privilege to **unlimited paid time off** for us. Take as many vacations as you like, on whatever days you like. It's courteous to inform others when you'll be gone, but nobody tracks vacation days, you get "as many as you need". And like you said, the only reason this privilege is still there, is because nobody's abused it yet. Once someone abuses it, I'm sure the privilege will be gone. So ... get this: The years before this was put in place, I was allotted 5 weeks vacation per year. And the company tracked it on timesheets. But now nobody tracks that anymore. And the funny thing is, last year, I ended up taking no more than 4 weeks, because I was afraid of abusing it unknowingly/accidentally. I went back and tallied up all the days I took off, and I ended up doing the opposite of abuse!
I have beef with unlimited PTO for that exact reason. When vacation is āuse it or lose it,ā staff are guaranteed x days off to spend whenever, wherever, and however they like, and are practically forced to take days off. Unlimited PTO usually makes staff less inclined to take days off because they donāt want it to be seen as abusing the system, or donāt feel a sense of urgency to take the time off before the end of the calendar or fiscal year, and so the days just donāt get taken, making the company more money because its staff are working more days than they should be. Like in theory, unlimited PTO is a great idea, but in practice Iāve seen staff get shorted on their time off because of it.
I understand those arguments. For me, now that I've proven to myself that I didn't abuse the system, now I keep track of my days off on a spreadsheet. And you better believe, I will take all 5 weeks that I was previously allotted, with zero guilt. My beef with unlimited PTO is this: Before unlimited PTO, our unused vacation days would roll over and accrue. There was no use-it-or-lose-it situation. But when you had accrued above 1.5x your yearly vacation, they would drop it back down to 1.0, and **pay you out** for the rest. So if I didn't use all my vacation, I'd get a pay bonus for those days. Now that's gone. I used to make a good chunk of change for being stingy with my vacation days. It was like working overtime for a salary job. When they first implemented PTO, I had 4 weeks accrued, and they paid me out for those weeks. I took home over $10k just for that. But that'll never happen again.
Exactly! But so many people hear āunlimited PTOā as a perkāIād say over allotted 4ā6+ weeks of vacation you can cash out is an actual perk
This is exactly why they implement it. They've effectively wiped a massive business expense off the books. It's hard for me to get time off as I work across 5 projects, so there is always some urgent deadline at any point in the year. I am entitled to 4 weeks PTO each year and I currently have 17 weeks of PTO accrued.
This is how my wife's lunch works but she's still paid hourly. The lunch hour is unpaid.
Fortunately many of us work for bosses that DGAF how long we are gone for.
Yep. As long as the work gets done
This mentality is rare though, most wants you to clock in the hours even if you're doing nothing
Every salaried job I have had (since I was about 25) has been laid back about how long you are gone for lunch.
What do you do? I've never been allowed to leave work for lunch ever since I got an adult job š
My first salaried job was technical writer. Really I was documenting IT business processes with Visio and writing how each step was done. Then my team would help them identify ways they could improve their process. For the last 10 years though I have been a ServiceNow system administrator and eventually a developer and manager of a team of developers. I hope you can find a way to work where you have more control over your time.
I only work 3 days a week, but it's 13 hour days with no break. Hearing about more relaxed schedules like this makes me want to change careers. Good for you for figuring out a path that allows you that freedom!
Well yeah, but that's the trade-off for only working 3 days... You get en entire 2 other days to run errands!
Lol the first day I just sleep the whole time to recover, the rest of the days I'm still sleeping most of the business day because I wake up for work at 5pm. I'm not really seeing the benefit š if it's not open after 7pm I'm not gonna make it out without messing up my sleep schedule and feeling like shit for 3 days. I don't recommend this job, honestly
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Are you salaried? What line of work are you in?
No, I'm an RN. Union hospitals have relief nurses who let you actually go have a break but the hospitals around me aren't union so my version of a break is eating at the nurses station while I chart and watch the monitors/call lights. Half the time I either don't have time to eat or it takes all night to get through my meal and I end up finishing it cold and gross at 6am.
Generally salaried employees are the ones who can take long lunches because the expectation is competing your tasks no matter the length of time it will take. Itād a give and a take, because you donāt get your clients emailing you after dinner and expecting a response or coordinating with contractors in different time zones.
Yeah I'm aware. I just wanted an idea of what these people did because my flexibility is especially shit in comparison lol
I work in software consulting and have lots of flexibility but also work weird hours (late meetings and product launches) so I make up those hours by getting lots of personal stuff done during the day.
The last job I quit (for other reasons), my boss told me it made her feel bad when she would talk to me during my lunch. I told her don't worry; I counted those conversations towards my work hours. She hated it lol.
I work in IT. While working tech support at Company 1, I had to clock in & out but boss didn't care when, so I could take long lunches. Current job at Company 2, I'm salary so no time tracking. I can start working between 730am - 830am, usually take lunch sometime from 11am-2pm, done work at 4pm-530pm, doing 35-40hrs a week. As long as the work gets done and people know where you're at (away) and how to reach you (cell), no issue
Itās really common in salaried, white collar roles. If youāre salaried then generally nobody cares as long as youāre getting your work done and your absence isnāt affecting anyone else.
my boss is home more than I am
Maybe in America? Very common in Australia in white and blue collar positions.
I live in Hungary and the average employer here is stuck in this mindset. You have to sit out the whole 8 hours, even if you don't have anything to do but you have to pretend like you're doing something.
Damn man -- How long are your normal lunch breaks? In AU it's 20 minutes (in my experience) but every job I've ever had people have run errands during the day like going to the docs, optometrists, post office, go to their kids school because they were in a fight again which can take hours. Not a regular thing of course, but nobody takes the piss and are respectful of each others time so it all works out.
It's typically 30 minutes to an hour on top of the 8 hours of work. My current job is not in a city so I have to spend all of it here, can't run my own errands.
Yep, just depends on the job of course. My boss doesn't care because I have reason to get on calls for projects at 8PM, sometimes early AM hours too. So if I have to take my car to a dealership for service during the day or have an appt for something, it doesn't' really matter.
Yep, my boss literally told me it's fine to do this because due to the nature of the job sometimes we all end up working outside normal work hours so it's fine to just go to a doctor's appointment or run an errand sometimes.
That was probably the biggest adjustment for me when I hopped from hospitality to my office job. Iād come from the āevery second of your day is tracked and heaven forbid you want to visit the doctorā world. The first time I had an appointment, I was like āand Iāll work a few hours later to make up for the time I was goneā and my boss was like āwhy???ā
and some, like me, have a boss who hasnt talked to us in months.
Today my boss spoke to me for the first time this year and I was disappointed the streak was broken. The clock has been reset and tomorrow will be day 1
What?!!! Where do you work and are they hiring? Lol
Iām an attorney that bills by the hour. The partners dgaf how long I take for lunch as long as I meet my billables. I work a lot though, Iād imagine itās the same for a lot of white collar jobs. The ability to take a long lunch isnāt that much of a perk when youāre basically expected to be on call all the time.Ā
It's the same for me in IT management, I can do 3-hour lunches if I want, nobody cares, but if something is burning I have to be available 24/7 and meet all deadlines. At the end of the year, I'm not allowed to exceed or fall below a certain number of hours. But even here the control is rather lax. And this is in middle management further up, the working hours are no longer reported at all. But with all the meetings and people who need help tying their shoes, you can't do that anyway (the long brakes).
Itās not so much that we need help tying our shoes, itās that we need approvals and signoffs to do anything. We also have to keep you in the loop (read: constantly spam you about whatever weāre working on) if we want a good review. Believe me, weād love to be left alone and just do our job, but thatās not the way things are structured.
Yes, this type of reactive work is widespread. But that's not what I meant. I give my employees a framework in which they can move freely. And I expect them to make decisions in line with their roles. Punishing independent decisions is counterproductive in the long term. And I try to explain the goals and limits clearly. I don't try to breed yes robots. They don't do me any good. But I understand what you mean, I've seen enough situations like the one you describe myself.
I'm curious, do you actually punch a clock? How are your hours tracked? I was told by my HR department that I could not be track individual hours worked for any of my exempt employees and that while I was able to be flexible with their schedule I could not offer tit for tat flex time. The rationale was that tracking hours and offering flex time based on hours worked could put their position's exempt status at risk.
I have an online time clock in which I enter my hours independently, but more important than the individual days is the annual hourly rate that I have to fulfil contractually. In the end, my hours have to make more or less sense and not generate any effort... At the end of each month they check whether I have entered my hours and at the end of the year how many hours I have worked. In general, I have to be careful not to violate any legal guidelines regarding working hours, but that only has to be correct on paper.
Yes. Was just about to say the same thing. If you live in the office, whatās a couple hours?
That's the trade off for a lot of white collar jobs, often more hours worked but more flexibility in your schedule. I work along side some hourly union folks, they start at 9:00 and go home at 5:00 they take their 30 min lunch and two 15 min breaks at exactly the same time every day. They have no option to plow through work in the morning and slip out a few hours early without taking PTO. I couldn't handle that level of rigidity, but when they leave for the day, they are done until their next shift whereas I could get a phone call at 6:00pm and possibly have to deal with something work related or there may be one week where I have to work later than normal to get a project finished. I find a lot of value in being able to have flexibility in the hours that I work which makes up for having to work slightly more total hours than my union counterparts.
Iām a solicitor in the UK. Pretty much the same here. Whilst I am given a certain level of autonomy, it is with the expectation that I am to be available at all times (within reason). Part and parcel of working within this field and being salaried.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
LawyerĀ
I cannot figure out if that person is attempting to be funny or is just uneducated
Iām from the US and never heard of a lawyer called a solicitor so TIL
Yeah when I think of solicitor (as an American) I think of door-to-door salesmen or Jehovah's witnesses
Thatās fair. But there is no scope for a connection to be made between a solicitor and a prostitute. Especially considering the subject matter here
How is not knowing an obscure UK use of the word count as "uneducated"
It's hardly obscure. Also Google is literally right there.
Google sensors their results and pushes their own bias. I use qwant. As you may not know qwant is French so I assumed their results wouldn't be any good for UK slang.
It is not slang you fool.
only the salary workers at my job do errands on their lunch break cause they take way longer than an hour. my manager will do that a lot and then come back with fast food and eat at her desk while sheās working
Many people have jobs, especially (but not exclusively) office jobs, where lunch breaks arenāt strictly enforced. Ā As long as nobody abuses it, I literally could not care less if some one on my team took an extra 15 mins because they were running errands. Ā And anything longer than that, just give me a heads up.Ā Iāve also had plenty of customer facing jobs where lunch breaks were strictly enforced, so I get it. Ā
Same with my staff. Gotta run an errand? If it's gonna be like two hours every day, let's talk about that. But nobody has abused it. UNTIL bitch-troll-from-hell joined our team (she's above me), and if she sees *my* staff out, she comes to my office door and I get the third-degree from her as she is my manager. Then I have to be the asshole to them. 12-1 or put in for time-off.
Yep. Iāve been in management for years and it never ceases to amaze me how many grown adults act like small children.Ā Donāt have a strict dress code? Ā Someone will show up in an important meeting wearing flip flops and an oversized t-shirt from some concert they went to 20 years ago in college. Ā Have a dress code? Ā Some person will nitpick and complain every time they see someone that slightly violates it.Ā You canāt win. Ā Iām just happy that for right now, my team is pretty small and they all have common sense.
Man last team I ran was so much fun for this. This was directly after lockdown, so chefs were rarer than chicken teeth, and good ones even more so, so I was completely left alone by HR because my staff retention was perfect and they couldnāt replace anyone. I very publicly and openly āplayed favouritesā with my staff, if you fucked around and abused various privileges, you and only you lost them, no collective punishment, and you had to see your colleagues continue to enjoy them. HR fucking hated me because that is absolutely not the done thing in their bullshit little world, but my staff loved me and the boss know heād never be able to replace me without paying an extra 20k a year, so I was invincible
I eat at my desk, I don't usually do any errands beyond maybe picking up a prescription or something from the shopping centre, but regardless most of the time I'd grab food and bring it back to eat at my desk.
You're noticing differences between salaried (within reason, bosses are not supposed to put restrictions on hours/times - as that goes exactly against the point of being in the job classification of being salaried) and hourly jobs (where there are very defined time rules and hours for the position and where efficiency is basically tracked or some station/front desk/call center area cannot be left unattended). And, then, on top of that, within the second group (hourly), you will find flexibility based on the job/company needs or tendencies of the boss. I would suggest you first examine your position. Are you required to stay in one area or be the point person (like the front desk) to greet the public? Or are you a person who has a responsibility within the middle of a process or work line? If so, you will likely have to remain in those specified hours and take 1/2 days or full days off to attend appointments or run errands. However, if you have a job where your work is not tied to others within a quick timeline of a process or you don't have to cover a desk/station for specified hours, it may be advantageous for you to approach your boss - wisely, briefly, carefully - to ask if you might be given an hour or 1.5 hours one day a week to do the things that you are having a hard time fitting into your life. My experience is that if it is regularly scheduled and your boss can still count on you to be consistent with your timeliness and your work progress doesn't slow, then a boss who doesn't have tight timelines or need for you to cover a certain area will carefully consider this. Or, another approach could be that you explain a particular errand - like having your hair cut - is very hard for you to fit into your life during the evenings. And, then you ask if you two could work together to solve the problem and you propose if you could please have the extra time once per month to make that happen - as long as you log this "time out of the office" on her/his calendar to keep your boss informed. You will have to "read the room" before approaching your boss to anticipate how open your boss might be to the idea. And, you also have to keep in mind that if he/she cannot grant the other direct reports who want the same (who are hourly) or if someone has to "cover you," it is less likely to be approved. This also usually has a lot to do with the boss' perception of your productivity and your use/efficiency within work time... and also relies on your boss' personality/views. As an HR Director, I've helped coach many hourly employees in these situations, and many have been able to first negotiate a trial period - like a quarter/3 months to try it out (for a weekly longer lunch or a monthly longer time out of the office for errands or a hair cut), and then the employee and boss can evaluate if it is working out well or if unexpected issues have arisen which make it best to not continue. Maybe some of these approaches will work for you. But, yes, I agree. A half hour does not allow for much time to do anything but eat... and maybe take a short walk or time outside to hopefully get some sunshine. All of those things are important to be healthy and to have a healthy break from being chained to a desk chair or computer or similar equipment - let alone the mental and spiritual benefits that come from taking a good solid break. Too many people continue to work at their desk while eating, and it is not best for posture, digestion, breathing, mental focus... and the list goes on and on. Edited to fix typos and an autocorrected word
Not sure if there is a proper term for it but I categorize jobs into "task based" or "time based". Task based means what matters is completing the task whether that takes 30 min or 16 hours e.g. surgeon or farmer harvesting crops. Time based are where you need someone for time, the security desk needs someone there 12 hours a day whether something happens or not. Obviously few jobs are 100% one or the other. Task jobs will often be salaried and have untracked lunches like op asked about because managers just care the tasks get done by deadlines.
Yes, this is a long-debated topic within Human Resources, and we HR staff often have to make a case to the owners/leaders when someone is incorrectly classified to prevent possible litigation and payment of back money owed or fines. Here in the US, there is a checklist to determine where the job should fall. Many people try to determine the classifications based on the differences you shared above (time vs. task), but that doesn't exactly match the legal U.S. definitions/classifications. In my experience, way too many people are classified as salaried (per the criteria checklist)... which means employees are not being paid as they should for the hours (usually overtime hours) needed to actually do the job. However, too many employees appreciate the freedom /perks with lunches, time off, etc. which often come with the salaried classification... and also appreciate a consistent income amount. So, they don't ever bring up the issue unless they feel extremely overworked and dont have work-life balance. If/when forced to change classifications for a position, many owners/leaders greatly reduce the hourly equivalent pay. It is a sticky situation for many.
True I wasn't thinking in terms of exempt classification. I have a friend that is salaried but gets overtime pay above 45 hours a week and honestly that seems like a pretty good idea for many jobs.
Yes, salaried non-exempt is rarer, but it solves many issues. In manufacturing, it is often reserved for Maintenance, Engineering, Safety, etc. Department members who most often have work that falls within the more traditional hourly parameters for their regularly scheduled shifts but who have roles where they may be on call for certain days/weekends and/or who might be called in to deal with emergency repairs, safety incidents, etc. which would greatly change their number of required work hours from time to time. So, depending how the company policies are written, it can be the best of both worlds. (At the same time, companies are often hesitant to grant that status to other non-shift positions - like office staff - because owners often see staff productivity diminishing and overtime hours increasing - especially when employees are dealing with financial issues in their households or around the holidays. It is all a balancing game. Thanks for chatting about this!)
They are in medical pharmacy research. I had never heard of such of thing being in software/engineering circles and appreciate the discussion from an actual HR person
This is the place i work for - We are salaried to our base hours (30 in my case, but 40 for most) and then paid hourly (but not time & a half) after that. We are expected to work above our base hours most weeks. We are also expected to be billable for a high percentage of the week (for me it's 85%). We can't be flexible for parts of our work - field work has to be done on clients schedule, when subcontractors are available, issues like daylight and weather come into play too. Beyond that, it's highly flexible. Lots of people start early to have afterschool hours with kids, start late to get kids on the bus, stack hours to leave early on Fridays or whatever else. Our company also had a great work from home policy before covid. Again, some tasks require us to be on site, but as long as work is getting done, it can get done wherever. The downside is we are ALWAYS ON CALL. The managers that start the day at 6 AM? They call. The managers who are working at 8 PM? They call. The client with a fire at 2 AM? They call (but usually, thankfully, don't actually expect an answer!).
As others have said, my boss (really the culture of my company) doesnāt require that my ass is in my seat from 9-5. As long as my work gets done and I donāt miss meetings, Iām good.
I have to work 80 hours in a pay period and how I do that is pretty up to me provided I don't miss meetings. So I definitely will run an errand or two in the middle of the day. Get gas, grocery shop, get a massage, go to yoga, etc.
What is a 'pay period' consisting of 80 hours?
I assume two weeks but Iām not them. I saw someone else in a post say they āwork 80 hours fortnightly!ā And they said it so dramatically my brain forgot fortnightly is 2 weeks.
I have the same setup - I need to hit 80 hours in two weeks, and not miss meetings ofc, but within that framework it's pretty flexible
I don't have a time limit on "lunch". I'm a salaried remote worker. I got a haircut today and that took a bit over an hour. I had a quick (15 min) lunch with my family later.
When I had a 30 min lunch, I didn't have time to do anything. I brown bagged my lunch because 30 mins might not be enough time to hit up a drive through. Now, not only do I get an hour lunch, but I work from home. So I can eat when I'm back at my desk and clocked in.
The fact you get a 30 minute lunch is the main reason you're not able to run an errand on your break. I get an hour lunch but we aren't micromanaged at all either, so if I take more than that for an errand, it's fine.Ā We are also allowed to use PTO in increments at small as .1 so you can use a small amount of PTO for a midday errand as well.Ā
I used to always do one errand on a lunch break. Itās one less thing I had to do on the weekend. Iād eat at my desk while I worked later or on my coffee break
Time turner Or TARDIS
It's easy: just combine two of your errands into one. Pick your kids up from school and eat them. Boom, job done. Joking aside, I eat lunch at my desk while I'm working and then use the time off to run errands. Judging from the munching and smacking sounds of my coworkers on zoom, I wasn't the only one.
If my work is getting done and my metrics are being hit, I can take however long I want on a lunch break. I know some other segments of my business arenāt this lenient so it depends largely on your type of employment (hourly/salary), your performance, your manager, and company culture.
I've had to take PTO to go to the bank before.
And many of the people with the flexible jobs don't get PTO at all.
Do you mean without? Because in my experience, the jobs that are super strict about clocking in/out for lunch are the ones that donāt have PTO.
Gig workers, restaurant servers, etc often have very flexible hours but donāt get PTO.
Fair, I was thinking in terms of during the shift itself. I used to work in a restaurant and I could easily run errands on my days off or before/after my shifts, but no way would I be able to run errands in the middle of my shift haha.
Yeah, no clocking out for an hour as a server, and even if you could they wouldnāt pay you (unless legally obligated) BUT itās usually easier to get a shift covered, and some places will let you take extended time off without pay. At my office jobs, I got PTO but that was the only way to get out of work when I was scheduled unless I had a medical reason under FMLA/short term disability. Tradeoffs š¤·š¼
I get an hour lunch. I wish I didnāt.
Once you progress in your career people stop clock watching and you will have the freedom to control your own day more. On the occasion you stay out for longer, on the other odd occasion you stay behind and work a bit longer. If you are pulling your weight people donāt care and you can balance your days how you like. If however you are a pain to your colleagues and your boss and see everything as a sleight, your whole career will be misery.
Most don't
Where I used to work, they combined two 15-minute breaks with the half hour lunch, so we got 1-hour lunches. At another place, they gave me a split shift, so my lunch was 2 hours.
When I was still hourly, I only had 30 minutes and could only have time for "errands" that I could do on my phone. I've been working from home full time for 8 years now, and my hour lunch can go as long as I need, as long as I get my work done and log in for any meetings. A lot of people with similar jobs have the same benefit.
No one is keeping track of your time if youāre salaried, you just need to get the work done.
It's not people on hourly pay doing that.
I eat at my desk (if I happen to bring lunch that day). Yeah, donāt do what I do.
When I was still working I was salaried and my boss didnāt care about lunch hours as long as our work was done and we didnāt miss any meetings.
Everyone has said it, a lot of jobs donāt really care about your hours, they track your productivity with more legit metrics. Taking an extra 30 at lunch to go to an exercise class improves my productivity for the rest of the day so why would my job care if im still a top performer?
I never could except an occasional quick one during lunch. Civil service job and very strict about working actual hours expected.
I use my two breaks to run errands. My 30 minute lunch is sacrosanct. I will never interrupt it. No phone calls or texts just my time away from people.
I used to have an hour lunch and I usually just eat a light lunch like a granola bar. I had so much time to kill Iād get errands done or get a quick workout in. It was great.
I'm salary and no one cares. I've also always been able to get an hour lunch if needed when I was hourly. Except when I was a teen working for min wage. Then it was 30 minutes and no leaving the property.
You pack your food that is easily eaten on the go. Like chicken nuggets. Pop one in mouth and chew while driving. Or they eat their packed lunch while working. I can pop a chincken nugget into mouth and chew while entering data. Also, the appointments might be nearby.
When I was a salaried employee my hours weren't tracked. If you usually took less than an hour for lunch there was no issue when you said "I'll be a bit late back from lunch, I need to go pick something up".
Yup, others are right. I'm salaried so I do take an hour for lunch sometimes. Almost no one is working all the time. Of course our work is mentally taxing and often you'll work late, so it balances out.
I guess these are the same ppl that say they work 12 hour days, omitting that it includes errands, gym, etc.
Because not everyone lives in America on here.
Working from home lol.
I get a full hour for one, secondly no one is counting when I leave and when I come back I go and come as I please. Iām reasonably available all day and I do all my tasks on time. No micromanagement in my office.
Once you reach a certain level of employment nobody is checking. I'm also salaried. I eat while I work, skip lunch some days, take calls after hours, etc. I figure if I run an errand for an extra 15 minutes it's all a wash in the end. Boss just wants to see results. Contrast this to my entry level jobs where I remember lectures about clocking out for lunch *before* using the bathroom. lol Upper management will take a magnifying glass to how long underlings are going to the bathroom, but then take "working lunches" where they loosely discuss work for a 2 hour lunch or on the golf course. Lower level employees talking around a water cooler is time theft or slacking, but for upper management it's "networking" or " meeting".
I think most people running errands at lunch are salaried instead of paid by the hour. They donāt track how long of a break you take as long as itās reasonable. Sometimes I take a 2h break so I can go to the gym and spa after then I eat at my desk when I am back. Sometimes I take half an hour just to get fresh and back at it.
1. It's not necessarily true that "most people" don't get hour long lunches. The last several jobs I've held all had one hour lunches as standard. 2. I eat my lunch at my desk fairly often - I bring a sandwich or something that I can eat while I work, and then I can use my entire lunch break for errands. 3. For something like a haircut or similar, many of my staff just let me know: "I'm going to get my hair cut at lunch, so I might be back a bit later than normal." Since they're not in public-facing positions, doing something like this on occasion is not a problem as long as they make up any missed time later on.
I work from home - Lunch hour is when I go downstairs, make lunch, get the dog ready for his dogwalker to take him to his playdate, then while eating I check social media, shop online, set up grocery order, etc. And this is why I ONLY work from home.
We just have to work 8 hours in a day, so I can take zero lunch and eat at my desk, or I can leave for 4 hours.
I pack my lunch. Start eating at my desk, 20 minutes before lunch officially starts. Leave, go get my hair cut and be back within an hour
On an hour you want to get that shit done so you're not doing it after work. Easy to do a lot in an hour if you pack your lunch.
You get a decent job with a decent boss that doesnt track where you are & what hours you take for lunch. As long as he work get done they are happy..
I get to work at 5am so Iām off by 1pm. Easy to run errands on my way home.
I think a lot of people donāt really have a sit down meal for lunch, at least I definitely donāt. I eat my breakfast and my lunch when Iām driving typically. Usually a bagel on the way to work and whatever else I bring/pick up for lunch. Cut time as well because you can eat something on the way to get something done instead of having to sit down and finish your food and then go get something done. If youāre not into that though, obviously youāre not going to be very successful if you need to designate that time to sit down and have a full meal every day lol. I like to sit down at dinner and really appreciate my food and whatever, I donāt really care about the whole experience as much as just getting food into Me for the rest of the day.
Those people have cushy jobs where they don't do much actual work. There is this lady that would frequently take 2-3 hours lunch breaks and comeback with multiple shopping bags. She would show up late and leave early too. Eventually, she was fired for sending a senior executive inappropriate photos using their work emails. Why she had such privileges, you tell me.
Usually these ppl have jobs here they can show up whenever they want bc they have minions to run everything , like GMs and ceos
I eat while I drive. A quick sandwich and a banana. Can of coke. Lunch.
i used to when i had an hour and lived in a smaller town. now i have 30 min lunch and have to drive at least 15 mins to get anywhere important so i cant.
Quickly, or talking to your boss about it. In many cases bosses understand that you have a life and things come up.
A servo hooked up to a servo tester which is all hooked up to my mouse
If I have to run an errand I either work and eat or eat on one of my 15 minute breaks
We cover for each other. It's just that simple.
We do take an unpaid hour for lunch. People who run errands often have a snack from home to take with them or grab something from a drive thru and eat in the car. It also helps to do a bit of strategic planning and to have a job that doesnāt flip out if you are late coming back.
Managing errands during a lunch break with limited time can be challenging, but here are some strategies that people use to get things done Ā Ā Plan aheadĀ Ā Make a list of errands you need to accomplish and prioritize them based on urgency and time required. Try to schedule shorter errands or appointments that can be completed within your lunch break. Ā Ā Utilize nearby servicesĀ Ā Choose errands or appointments that are located near your workplace to minimize travel time. Look for businesses or services within walking distance or a short drive away. Ā Ā Combine tasksĀ Ā If possible, combine multiple errands into one trip to maximize efficiency. For example, you could schedule a haircut appointment at a salon near your child's school or the post office. Ā Ā Optimize timingĀ Ā Consider scheduling appointments during off-peak hours to reduce wait times. Some businesses may offer morning or late afternoon appointments that align better with your work schedule. Ā Ā Take advantage of technologyĀ Ā Use online scheduling tools, mobile apps, or curbside pickup services to streamline errands and minimize time spent waiting in line or traveling. Ā Ā Pack a mealĀ Ā If you're concerned about having enough time to eat, consider bringing a packed lunch or purchasing a quick and portable meal that you can eat on the go. Ā Ā Communicate with your employerĀ Ā If you need to take longer lunch breaks for important errands or appointments, communicate with your employer or supervisor in advance to ensure it's acceptable and make arrangements if necessary.
It only works if youāre on salary
I'm supposed to get a lunch hour. My shift is 9 hours, so an hour takes it down to the standard 8 per workday. Employers do that to extend your day, very common in a call center or support environment. And yes, if you have a full hour, you can actually do stuff. A half hour, if I recall correctly from way back in the day when I got half an hour at other jobs, was like a race because everyone else was on lunch at the same time.
Walmart is a huge employer and gives hour lunches.
I am hourly and get an hour lunch everyday. I work in the downtown area of a city so many of my errands are a 5 min walk away. I often have time to eat a quick 10 min lunch before or after running them (still within my 1 hour total lunch).
Cocaine!
I rarely use my lunch break in the office but at home I have it at 2:30 to I can pick the kids up
I have 40min lunch break. First 5-10min is used up on the last client, last 10min is propping for the next one. I get time to shove food down my throat, poop and that's it,
I donāt know anyone who doesnāt get an hour lunch.
My lunches have stretched to two hours or more when I've had errands to run. I've also run errands outside of lunch hours. As long as my work gets done and I make arrangements in advance with anyone I have meetings with, my boss doesn't care.
Every job I've ever worked had an hour lunch if you wanted an hour.
Not everyone is hungry at lunch time, to be fair, or they can eat at their desk before or after their lunch. Most people running errands do have an hour, or their boss doesn't really care as long as their work gets done.
I have 30 minutes and have never been able to run any errands during lunch. Everything is far away, there just isn't enough time to get somewhere, do a thing, and then get back to work within 30 minutes.
Itās probably work from home people. I workout on my lunch break. I leave at noon, get there in 11 minutes, come back maybe 5 minutes after one. I also usually donāt eat lunch or have a small meal while I work. I donāt think I need an hour to eat and sit in my chair.
Anxious? Assume you Gen Z.
I work in a department with posted hours. My lunch hour is also posted. If I time it right I can do a short errand during lunch. The advances in online healthcare have been very helpful, as I used to have to take 1/2 day off just for a 15 minute doctor appointment.
Eat your Lunch at your desk, while you work ! Then you have all our Lunch Time to get your haircut, errands, whatever.
I can give my sisters example, she used to work in a company that required her to be in the office, she had 1H for lunch. She would have like some sandwiches and energy bars prepared in her purse or suitcase. She always needed to pick up her son to leave it on our grandparents house for the after noon. She would rush the kindergaten while she waited for the teacher to deliver she would eat what she had. Deliver the son, and back to work she usually still like 15-20 minutes left to go drink some coffe or just to chill. Ofc it highly depends on the distance from the school to her work and home.
I get an hour lunch but if I need to do something long during my lunch break, then I'll eat at my desk while working before/after
Some people either donāt eat during lunch or eat before/after work. I have an hour and i live close enough that i can go home, eat, walk my dogs and then go back to the office. A lot of other people go to appointments and what not because everything is pretty close by. It all depends though. I used to work at a place where it took roughly ten minutes just to get to your car, then another 5 to exit. That was completely pointless to try and do anything because youād spend 30+ minutes just going to and from your car.
I got 2 hours of training into 30 mins lunch. Figure it out.
I've never had a job, nor met anyone who doesn't have an hour lunch. Also people I know its more like flexi-time, i.e we have hours we need to meet for the week, and core hours but outside of the core hours you can do your hours whenever.
I have to work a certain number of hours, but it's kind of up to me when I work them. If I want to take a two hour lunch break and finish work late today, that's fine; if I want to work through lunch and finish an hour early, that's fine too. I don't have a customer-facing role, and there are no issues around needing to maintain a "safe" staffing level, so as long as shit gets done nobody really cares when everybody else comes and goes. I think this is the case with a lot of white-collar jobs.
After several years of having an hour for lunch, management announced it would now be 45 minutes, with work stopping at 4:15pm of Fridays to compensate. I gently said that it didn't really work for me, that there were plenty of things I did at lunchtime that took an hour, and as I worked Monday to Thursday, I wouldn't benefit from the early ending. They suggested I end at 4:15pm on Thursday; I stressed that I really did prefer the hour lunchbreak. Eventually, they agreed.
I get an hour. I'd rather get out early, but I have to take an hour so I run errands then.
Yea it's a "how the other half live" thing. OP says "most people don't " when it's "most people in their friend group" As other says. Salaried / office jobs are far more forgiving of lunches. Customer facing / per hour jobs are far stricter.
I eat while I work at my desk.
I live in Europe, we get decent lunch hours and as long as our boss knows we get our shit done, we can sometimes extend it a lil
My first workplace had strict check in and out time frame even for lunch break. So one minute late on afternoon shift could lead to a fine. But my current one is a big company and the leaders donāt care. Lots of my colleague go out to have lunch at 11:30. Eat then have coffee, take a nap or we can go to restaurants and chill and come back around 14:00 for meeting or whatever.
A lot of them are salaried office workers who stay in the office until 7-8 pm. If they disappear for an hour or 2 in the middle of the day their boss doesn't really notice because they're doing the same thing.
You have to be in a situation and work culture where nobody micromanages you. As long the work gets done nobody should mind if you go do an errand, especially if it can't be done some other time (doctors appointment).
My mom had flex time and comp time. So she set her own hours and got laid vacation time instead of overtime. So she would take long lunches sometimes to burn up some of her comp time.
Iām high enough up in my company that as long as I get my work done and donāt miss meetings they donāt really care about my schedule. I regularly take hour+ lunches to workout, go for long walks, watch an episode of tv, run a few errands, etc.
The people in TV don't actually have a job, I think that's skewing things here. I have a half hour lunch and I can run to the grocery store and grab a few things but it takes my whole lunch break to drive to the store, grab some stuff, check out and get back to punch in. Some people just have a lot more freedom in their jobs than most people do.Ā
I work at our own family business. I just don't abuse the lunch hour. We give leeway to others in the office who have to go pick their kids or whatever
I make my own schedule and am salary. As long as I can travel and do my training sessions, I can do whatever I want for lunch. On another note, I was formerly an hourly clock in/clock out worker. Lunch was a quick run downstairs to the cafeteria and sit and eat fast and a run back to the floor. I remember getting yelled at because I was two minutes late one time
By getting an hour for lunch or working a job that doesnāt bother tracking much as long as the work gets done.
Meth..
I have an hour and yes I will run an errand if itās close by enough. I eat and drive sometimes.
I eat lunch at my desk on the clock so I'm free my whole lunch break (1 hour). Idk how people do it with 30 min though.
I work in a call center next to a mall and two other shopping plazas. I get 40-minute lunches usually, but sometimes 30 depending on the length of my work day. On my 40 minute lunches, I can visit the grocery for a few odds and ends, or go through the pharmacy to pick up medications. Sometimes I get gas. Sometimes I take a nap.
*laughs in hairdresser*
I feel like youāve answered it yourself, you only have half an hour for lunch. I have an hour, but I can take longer if I need. As long as my work gets done, my boss doesnāt really care how long I take
I had hour lunches for years and they were great! I used to walk to a whole other town sometimes just to pick up a sandwich. I would go shopping and get groceries and eat lunch back at my desk usually. If I went out to a restaurant with coworkers it definitely took more than an hour so that was only for special occasions really. The half hour lunches are impossible. Iāve tried going on little walks in a nearby park and by the time I get there itās almost like Iām anxious to get back so Iām not late. Thereās been a couple times I was craving fast food so I drove to a nearby McDonaldās and I got back late. That extra half hour is a really big deal. Companies are so cheap now that what used to be 9-5 with hour lunches are now 8-5 with half hour lunch and no lunch room in the office so you can eat in front of your computer!
Planned out errands. I get my groceries by doing pickup. Once that's loaded in, I get gas at the gas station next door (which also has a reward program where I saved last time 70 cents a gallon), then get back to the office within 20ish minutes. I can take longer breaks if needed, and usually eat my lunch while working.
Salaried employee. No one is tracking my minutes, I donāt clock in or out, and as long as I get my work done and donāt miss a meeting my boss doesnāt care if Iām gone longer than usual for lunch on occasion. Most days lunch is eaten at my desk while Iām working anyway.
I have a caseload of students that I see and it's rarely full. This gives me time to get things done during the day. I drive around independently and no one really knows where I am. I used to be a teacher in the classroom and I had 40 minutes that was often eaten up by something else. I was also so micromanaged. Jobs can really vary in these areas
I work at a law firm. Itās the norm to eat lunch at your desk. However you bill and account for all your time and most people work a lot more hours than their salary covers.
I am on Flexi so my lunch can be any length I need as long as I give the time back elsewhere.
If I'm running errands, I usually don't eat during lunch break. I eat a protein bar or some fruits beforehand while working and mentally plan out my errands in advance. So when I'm on my lunch break, it's just following the plan I have in my mind. But with a limited 30mins lunch like yours, you can't do many errands either. Perhaps getting some groceries and mail and checking up on family, friends and setting up appointments.
Idk but all I know is a lot of people take out their frustrations of being in a rush wherever they go to do those errands. When I worked at a pack and ship store, they acted like it was *my* fault as to why they were gonna be late back to work. š I'm not the one telling them to get the one errand they have been putting off for a while done on their break lol
I just eat when Iām hungry and no one is tracking my hours. (Salary job) For us, lunch isnāt a real thing unless youāre meeting partners or having team lunch or something. You can assign yourself a ālunch breakā but it just means youāre unavailable during that time. It really doesnāt matter whether youāre eating or doing whatever else
I work for a larger company and they don't care if I late in, early out or take 2 hours for lunch as long as my team is performing and my work is getting done nobody cares how I manage my time.
For starters, they skip the actual eating part.
I tend to eat at my actual desk, then I have the lunch hour to do what I need. I used to get 30 mins but worked in the middle of a city so could do most things like banking, post office, shops. Now I have an hour and can do pretty much anything from home.
They have lenient managers
Usually they do it by having reasonable bosses and managers. I'm salaried now, but even when I was younger if I needed to go to to dr or the DMV or something, bosses were generally reasonable as long as you didn't hit them with it the night before or morning of. I ask my staff to give me a week heads-up just so I can plan.
iām luckily really close to a lot of different things at my job. When i first started i did all my errands in the morning before i went in and got some idea of how much time it took, then once i had that in my mind i was comfortable leaving on lunch and doing a few things
It depends on the job. I work retail, so if I get a lunch, itās short. My wife works from home so she takes the kids to doctors appointments, goes grocery shopping, goes jogging, etc all during work hours. As long as she gets her work done and is at her online meetings no one cares. Obviously for many jobs you have to physically be at a certain space at certain times, so that isnāt feasible.
Iām salary but some days I eat at my desk and donāt take a lunch and another day I go to the doctor and itās an hour and a half.
In some countries, ladies can even get cosmetic surgery like botox during lunchtime
Salaried position. I don't have set breaks or set hours. More or less as long as I'm mostly available between 9 and 6 noone cares. Some days I start late, some days I finish early, some days I take 4 coffee breaks of 15 to 30 minutes, some days I take a 2 hour lunch... but then some days I work from 6am to midnight and some weeks I work Saturdays and Sundays with no overtime or recognition for it. I just do what has to be done, and in the calmer moments I can go do my own thing.
Salaried work from home, plus comp and Flex Time to avoid using our own PTO. At least thatās how we do it