I work for an organisation that puts a lot of emphasis on keeping staff comfortable and content as they know it helps staff-retention which ultimately works better for the organisation. They don't want a revolving door of staff coming and going, that's costly, and due to the specialised skills needed to do the work I completely understand it.
They have a lot of benefits for staff, some of which I've spoken about in a previous post, and some specific rules/guidelines they like to enforce designed to help keep staff happy and healthy - one of those rules is: no eating lunch at one's workspace, desk or office.
It may seem an odd rule considering having staff eat their lunch at their desk while continuing to work may seem productive, but it's a good rule in my opinion; it ensures people take a proper break, eat in the (very lavishly appointed) kitchen-dining-lounge area and promotes interaction with their peers which promotes a more social environment, better culture and helps people feel more relaxed for a time before getting back to work. I think it's a very good idea and, despite breaking the rule sometimes because I'm just so busy, I mostly take the time to sit with a few of the team, chat, swap stories, bond a little and relax over some food; we sometimes even share or swap food which is nice too...although no one really likes my food much...too boring apparently. 🤣
I tend to eat in a very healthy manner and rarely over-eat. I bring my lunch from home most days and spread it out over the entire day as I like to eat smaller meals more often. Above is my workday lunch and snacks from a couple days ago.
Carrots, capsicum, cucumbers, a few slices of hot salami, some cheese and one piece of low-carbohydrate bread. That was lunch. The nut bar and assorted nuts were my mid-morning and mid-afternoon snack to have with a cup of tea or coffee. Healthy? Yeah I reckon so. Boring...yep, that too! I mix up what I take for lunch, but it's pretty much always vegetables, some protein and nuts as per the image above.
I'm surrounded by people eating way better and tastier food and used to get comments about what is a very basic lunch from others but over time I noticed people taking my lead, bringing more healthy foods or buying them at the shop not too far away. We'd have conversations around health, eating habits, likes and dislikes and all sorts of other things which is exactly what the organisation promotes and why they ask us not to eat at our desks while continuing to work.
What's your work lunch situation? Do you bring your lunch from home, buy it, eat with other staff in a communal area, or at your desk while you work? Do you even eat lunch at all?
Feel free to comment below, tell me about your work lunch, show me if you like in a photo, talk about your healthy or unhealthy work lunch habits or just comment on my boring work lunch picture above. If you're keen to comment I'm keen to hear from you.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
