“It wasn’t a totally relaxing activity for a lot of people,” says Trougakos, who presented his findings at the Emotions at Work symposium at the Australian School of Business in May. “Being with colleagues may make you think about work. These may not all be people you want to socialise with. Behaviour is a little more formalised than if you were with friends at the weekend because you’re still ‘on’ and using up psychological and cognitive resources.”
Trougakos expanded on this in his 2008 paper, Making the Break Count: An Episodic Examination of Recovery Activities, Emotional Experiences and Positive Affective Displays. Trougakos explored the draining effect on individuals of having to regulate emotions throughout a working day. “Each time a person engages in some sort of self-control, their psychological resource is depleted, making it increasingly difficult to regulate behaviour,” he says.
“Sometimes I eat in front of the monitor … sometimes I take a looong lunch. But I guess I’m lucky in that regard. Nobody is watching the clock … only the output.” (lifehacker.com.au)
One factor that has a crucial impact on levels of fatigue is the amount of autonomy and self-determination people have over their breaks. “If the boss insists that they work through their lunch break, that person is most likely going to be unhappy and that will add to feelings of exhaustion,” Trougakos says. By contrast, people who choose to work through lunch, even though they aren’t relaxing, report feeling less tired than those forced to work.
“That concept of having control is critical to the outcomes. If people choose to socialise at lunch with people they want to spend time with, they have more resources at the end of the day. But where they have less control over the decision to socialise, they report feeling a lot more tired,” says Trougakos.
Running on empty
Although not part of his research, Trougakos confirms that some employees use lunch breaks to exercise or play a sport and are encouraged to do so by a growing number of companies that provide in-house facilities or financial incentives such as gym memberships.
At top law firm Clayton Utz, national OH&S adviser Laura Cropley says the company is involved in corporate sporting events, such as City2Surf and the BRW Triathlon in Sydney, which involve commitment to regular training and participation. Clayton Utz is also part of Virgin Active, a gym membership scheme, and offers yoga classes and meditation as part of the company’s national health and wellbeing program.
“There’s no denying that the long hours and highly stressful environment exist, but to help manage and mitigate that, senior partners encourage people to take lunch time out of the office,” explains Cropley. “Individuals are put in charge of managing their own time, their own physical and mental health and there’s flexibility for them to do that. It’s not an environment where you need to keep to a number of fixed hours in the office.”
With employee burnout a pressing issue for firms such as Clayton Utz, the risk of losing valued people ensures that caring for staff is a high priority. Anecdotally, staff members have reported feeling more positive and energised after lunchtime exercise, according to Cropley. “The focus more recently has been on mental health, and research has shown us that physical activity at lunchtime and before and after work helps to manage and improve mental health,” she says.
Trougakos believes there is a need for more research into the impact of in-work breaks on employees’ health and wellbeing: “Given the work demands that people are facing, the fear of losing your job, the pressure to achieve a work/family balance and the fact that people can now track you down 24/7, the importance of the longest and most common type of break within the workday needs greater understanding.”
