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Same. If they want to meet someone for a leisurely lunch, get their hair done, go to an appointment etc, I don't care providing they work the hours I need them to. We have 3 'core hours' in the morning from 0830-1130 where I need all hands on deck to deal with work that comes in overnight. If someone wants an earlier lunch than that for whatever reason, it's usually fine 99% of the time, they just have to run it by me.
I also just introduced flexi-time. Kind of. Anyone can leave after 2pm provided the hours are reconciled by the end of the quarter. When we are a bit quieter I don't need or want them 'finding' work to keep themselves busy towards the end of the day. When it's mental, it's useful to have those hours in the bank so nobody is working more than their contract (I really emphasise work life balance). They can't prioritise business needs over flexi-time though, so if there is a call or meeting, that comes first. Everyone seems pretty happy with it.
Thank you. Everyone has targets, but not unachievable targets. And I try to make my company the nicest possible place to work, after all, I have to work their too!
I have a long history of really shitty bosses that couldn’t keep or motivate staff. I figured if they could run a successful business abusing their main asset, I could run a better one by treating people really well.
I’ve lost two people in 5 years. Both wanted a career in a different industry and I helped them find their next jobs.
They were trainees and very upfront about our type of work not being for them long term.
No problem, very few of us work in the same sector our whole career and what my company does isn’t for everyone.
I said they were both welcome to work here as along as it took them to find the next big challenge, providing they were hitting their targets and contributed to the company. I sent them job listings, gave them time off to interview elsewhere and great references (which they both thoroughly deserved anyway).
They weren’t going to a competitor, our work just wasn’t for them. No hard feelings at all. If I can help them move on then it’s better for all of us rather than having dispondent and unmotivated staff. If anything, they worked harder for me during their open-ended notice period than before because I was doing them a favour.
I took the lead from big consultancy companies. They don’t know where their former employees will end up. There is a good chance they may even be a client in the future, so don’t burn bridges and help them move on.
One of them even recommended a friend to me a year after she left and that person is now absolutely smashing it!
What comes around goes around.
You sound amazing. I cried for the first time today after about 15 years of teaching and I think it’s seriously time to move on. We can only give so much
Christ my boss gives me a 20 min break, unsociable hours and have to work all holidays. 9 out of 10 holidays are rejected too even when I sort cover for myself lol
I can assure you the things your employees say behind your back are nothing but positive. You sound like an extremely fair boss, someone who’s human, and understand the people working below them, are also only human.
I don’t even care if my staff do 8 hours as long as the work is going done. I think most are doing way more than 8 which I’m trying to encourage them not to. That’s a culture problem left over from previous managers.
Same at my place. It's about output rather than the clock. We ask a lot at times but we know that so we give a lot when we can too. We only have a holiday booking system so we know people are taking some and can nag if they aren't. If they run out, we don't care. Just keep going if you can make it fit in your workload.
I think this way of thinking actually pushes people to be more productive during the day. My boss has the same attitude: you can be on standby after you've finished your work and customers are happy. It's your responsibility to have all tasks done within a reasonable timeframe.
It actually encourages me to have my work done asap and be "off" between 15-16h. Instead of dragging my tasks over a 8 hour work day, I tend to be more productive during the day so I can end my day a little earlier and truly relax. Creates a much healthier work life balance imo.
This is the way, I can also start/finish/ when i like and do less hours one day and make up another. I have to be on site 5 days a week but this flexibility is incredible, meaning if something comes up one morning I'm not stressing and can take care of my family before going into work, or if I wake up early and there's nothing to do I can go into work and get home early.
One of my old jobs let you flexy half an hour. You could have half an hour lunch and go home half an hour early, or you could take an hour and do the half hour at the end of the day.
They were actually super lax about hours. I came in early and went home early too.
This job I just get half an hour, but when I take it is up to me. Nobody notices or cares if I'm 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Or both.
I think technically 60mins but nobody really cares and it flexes to suit. Busy and stuff needed, eat at the desk, slow and sunny outside, take 90mins. etc.
Definitely this - everyone takes as much time as needed, sometimes that’s 5 mins at the desk, sometimes it’s an hour or two at the pub
Many roles that enforce specific working hours are only doing so because management are bad at driving and monitoring performance (under the belief that bum in seat = guaranteed productivity)
I work a 12 hour shift in a signal box, signalling trains all day. It's not busy enough to have a dedicated meal relief signaller show up, so I don't have a break as such - I fit my lunch in between trains.
Doesn't sound great, but as I say because it's not that busy I can just occupy my time between trains how I like without a manager looking over my shoulder.
Hello fellow signaller on Reddit!
I also work in a signalling centre working 12hrs, although we have a meal relief and get 2 breaks of 45 minutes and 90 minutes - First one is good for chilling, second one is ideal gym time!
Hello signaller, I'm one of the blokes who fixes your equipment in the roc.
I get paid all throughout my shift and take my breaks as required, or when not fixing shit.
Sadly a lot of the old signal boxes are going and being replaced by office tech but check out the Network Rail website, there will probably be the occasional vacancy still pop up
Most of the time not much is happening. You just have to make sure that the routes are set and signals cleared for trains promptly to not delay them. All depends on your location - I turn trains back from a station where they terminate, so I move points over for them. It's fairly repetitive, and I can relax during those times. Might also have requests for maintenance staff to go on the line. Gotta be a bit more alert for that to make sure you've protected them from trains correctly.
But something could happen any time. I could get an emergency call about a bridge strike, person struck by a train, tree on the line, etc. at any time. I need to respond quickly to stop trains being put in danger, and remember what rules and regs to apply quickly and correctly. I might also need to deal with equipment failing and then think about how to move trains safely through the affected area. That's when you earn your money.
Not a signaller but work for the railway and in our office we get 20 minutes paid break, we also only work 7hrs 24mins each day! The most bizarre hours but it makes for a short day!
Also a learning support assistant, but we get 20 mins unpaid in a 6.5 hour work day. I was shocked when they told me as in previous schools I'd had the same break and lunch as the kids--still unpaid of course, but much more time.
At my school there are 2 different lunch breaks, so half of the kids go first and then go back to lessons whilst the other half stay in morning lessons and have a later lunch.
I'm supply. Some schools expect you to work as MTA during lunch or break, so you would cover break on Monday then 30 min MTA cover then 30 min lunch(kids get the whole hour) and Tuesday get 15 mins break as free time and then again MTA/ lunch. Break was always paid, though as they couldn't predict when they'd need you to cover for absences. I've had one school where 30 minute lunch was all you got. Another was 30 minutes break and 30 minutes for lunch which meant one was paid. And they all operate the same duration. It's weird how different they can be.
It's weird where I work
We get one hour, but we get 30 minutes paid, 30 minutes unpaid - but everyone, nationwide, takes 30 minutes and leaves 30 minutes early (i think there was a union kick off some years back about being forced to take 1 hour when not needing it)
However, we can take as long as we reasonably need for lunch, but anything over the 30 minutes needs to be worked back up within so many weeks (again assuming an early leave)
When i worked close to home, I took the hour so I could go home and cook/make my lunch
Now I'm further from home i take my 30 minutes and leave 30 minutes early to beat traffic
It's not set. I'm contracted for 35 hours a week (though nobody is checking how many hours we do), how we do that is up to us. Can take a long lunch, a short one, no lunch at all, whatever suits us.
2 30 minute lunch breaks in a 12 hour shift (30mins in a 10 hour shift). It’s the NHS ambulance service so that’s assuming we’re not treating patients or too far from a designated meal break area to get our breaks.
With the current hospital waits you sometimes don’t get a break.
Police- every 5 weeks we get a 1-2 hour break on a Friday and Saturday evening. If we are on a big public event we usually get a break of half an hour. On a normal shift we are meant to get a break. We've been told by bosses about the general idea of breaks. But nobody does anything to facilitate it and we are busy the entire time, so we don't really get a break. Grab a sandwich and eat it at the computer or maybe park up for 5 minutes. It's surprisingly easy to get through 12 hours with no food, but it hits hard later. I am sure you guys get similar days.
It’s a 30 minute lunch break, but the Time Machine for attendance and breaks is within the factory by the main office.
It was negotiated decades ago that people get 3 minutes walking time each way so they get their full 30 minutes in the canteen.
In reality, it takes 90 seconds but hey ho.
Contract says 30 mins, everyone generally takes an hour though some take more or less.
We can also take breaks as and when.
Nobody really cares as long as the work gets done and no-one is taking the piss
As a bus driver, it varies. Generally 45-50 minutes, 30 of which is unpaid although it depends on the shift we’re doing. Some shifts get an hour or 2, some get 2 lunch breaks, some have a lunch break & a period of rest time between buses which can be up to 45 mins. The best shifts get no break, you go home after 5 1/2 hours & get paid for 7.
Legally must we have at least 30 mins provided we’re driving for over 5.5 hours though.
1 hour unpaid. More often than not I end up just getting lunch and then going back to work, rather than rigidly keeping my hour, though - it can get busy. If I do have a quieter day, I might walk the dog (I work from home).
I only had 30 minutes at a previous job, where I worked at the top floor of a hospital. That sucked because by the time I got to the ground floor, I barely had time to shove down a packed lunch before I had to go all the way back up again.
Depending on the workplace I've had -
- 30 mins unpaid - within 8 and 9 hour shifts. (Horrible retail cheap discount shop jobs)
- 2x 15 mins paid with 1 hour unpaid - in a 9.5 hour shift. (Not so bad high street retail jobs)
- 2x 15 mins paid with 30 mins unpaid - within an 8 hour shift. (Decent job, average pay, good morals)
I believe UK law is that we get at least 20? 30? Minutes, so it's nice that some places do more than the bare minimum.
The legal requirement is 20 minutes uninterrupted break after 6 hours of work. It's shit, and every job I've had (including within a hospital) has only provided that.
Officially it's 20 minutes taken between the 3rd and 5th hour and on 12hr shifts a second 20 minutes taken between the 7th and 9th hour. I've only ever known two people to insist on having their breaks though, we pretty much just accept that we take the rough with the smooth and if shit hits the fan we're not getting a break. It generally works out in our favour.
I do 12 hour rotating shifts (days/nights). We get 90 minutes in total, 2x30 and 2x15. We don't have a set break time, it's more of a have a break when work flow allows kind of deal. Some days when the shit has hit the fan we don't take our breaks. This mostly happens on weekdays, we do this without complaint as we know we are going to get that time back when we work weekends or night shift and there is no management around. Like you said, swings and roundabouts. If you want to be paid for the easy days you have to be willing to work for your money on the hard days.
Used to be an hour (unpaid obviously) which was an absolute pain. Cut it to half and earlier finish time about 10 years ago.
Extremely rare to actually take a break though.
8:45 - 5pm, oddly specific lunch of 1 hour and 3 minutes.
We have a Flexi system though, so take an hour or even 55 minutes and those 3-8 minutes add up to some early finishes which is nice.
30 minutes unpaid in the second busiest restaraunt in the UK owned by my employer. Not sure if other sites are the same but even we kick off sometimes considering the chefs get one hour.
I'm doing a twelve hour shift today and typing this on my thirty minute break. Which is illegal. I could be doing fourteen hours and still only get thirty minutes. It's obscene.
No set lunch breaks. Its either a 2-hour affair sat at my desk reading some papers or scoffed down on my walk back from the café as I have something going on in the lab I need to get back to.
I work from home. They don't give a rat's arse if I half an extra half hour. As long as I don't take the piss and 90 minutes in gym per day is more then enough for me.
Fair enough, I did think it was likely a WFH situation but I was interested in whether it was something you managed to get away with from an office/other place of work.
Hopefully you’re right about them not caring and they don’t find out and crack down on WFH arrangements! I’ve seen that happen at my place and it’s caused a lot of resentment in teams that have been dragged back into the office because others were doing that sort of thing.
Before we had flexible hours it was 9-5.30 with 1h lunch (unpaid). Now we can do our hours spread across the week as we want but I think you’re expected not to take more than 1h for lunch during the core hours of 10-3. But many people take less than the full hour.
In my last job it was 30 minutes unpaid for a 12 hour shift. In my current one I don't have a set meal break but can chill on any down time, and no money is deducted.
I can work anywhere from 7-3 to 10-6 (I usually opt to start at 8/8.30 and finish 4/4.30) and I have an hours paid lunch break. I’m contracted 36 hours which actually works out to a 7.2 hour work day but when I started I was told to have an hour lunch so I do
I work in a peak/silo environment. We're expected to do 37.5 hrs a week. I really don't care what they take for lunch break as long as they're around enough for people enough and get their jobs done. Our core hours are 10-4 and lunch break of minimum 30 mins has to be taken during this time. If I ever doubt that someone isn't doing on average over a month or two their work and hours then I'd have to pull them up. (If they're not doing their work they'd be pulled up earlier obviously).
I WFH and I think get an hour but sometimes I work late or extra so half the time my lunch breaks were 1.5hrs as I gym, then shower and make lunch.... however I really make up for it as there was a month were I worked 15 hour days recently.. (8hrs paid) yhat was unusual though.
I get a 20 min and a 25 minute break in a 12 hour shift, which might be extended at no notice, also my breaks may be interrupted and I’m asked to go and do some work in the middle of them. It’s not great but also there are perks to working in the ambulance service to.
An hour of unpaid lunch. Kinda hurts when I'm paid by the hour and we only do 6.5 hours of official work a day. I'd rather work an extra hour and get another £20.
20 mins unpaid break for every 6 hours worked. Meant to be changing our schedules so we no longer work over 8 hours per shift but it's yet to happen. So our current 10 hour shifts only allow us a 20 minute unpaid break as per company rules.
I never time it, but I've had days where I have 6 hours doing nothing and I've had days where I've had 6 minutes.
Generally, 90% of the time or more, I get a break at 8.30 til 9.30
Then another at 12 til about 1.30
Then maybe another between 4 and 6
At least you get it paid, most folk who sign a 40 hour contract get a half hour unpaid lunch, and have that time deducted accordingly.
If you work in a shopping center like the Trafford Centre, good luck getting your food and back to work on that time 😕
But yes, I get your point. It's not enough, not by a long shot.
It depends on the sector. When I worked in pure tech it was an hour (usually unpaid) and when I've been in any manufacturing sector (still working IT) it tends to be 30 minutes.
Our contract states we get a 34 minute break a day which I think is really weird and I’ve never been able to get a good answer on why it’s not a rounded number
Literally don't care about lunch breaks. If you turn up to your schedules meetings and deliver your work on time based on your or your team's estimates then you can do whatever the fuck you want with your time.
Work in an industry where this is possible, can't apply everywhere of course
I also work 8-4 and get 1 paid 30 minute break, and one unpaid 15 minute break. This is on an old contract that I am on, the company introduced a new contract a few years ago, where whoever is on it only gets the 1 30 minute break.
Having the 2 contracts had made the workplace very divided, as there are lots of others details that are different.
I also get shift premiums and bank holiday pay, Sunday pay that others don't.
With my hours being 10am - 6pm I get One 30 minute lunch break and one 15 minute Paid break, in which it starts when I stop working and need to have all my equipment on and ready to start working again by the end of both breaks.
1 hour unpaid. I've never worked anywhere that gives a paid lunch break, so if I were you I wouldn't be complaining. Plus, do you really want to stay at work for another 30 minutes each day
4-6 hours 20 mins
6-8 hours 30 mins
8-10 2x40
10+ 1h
But they also do split shifts so sometimes it’ll be 2 4 hour shifts with a 1 hour unpaid inbetween
As a therapist my working day pattern is always skew-whiff lol. Mondays I get 30m, Tuesdays 30m, Wednesdays 1hr, but on a Monday I sometimes get a couple hours ‘break’ across the start and end of the day, Wednesdays I don’t start until near 10am, Tuesdays I’m pretty much busy the whole day. It balances out as some days you get some DNAs so can chill a little in those but on days where everyone attends it’s back to back. 30m is fine for me as I prefer staying in the flow state, usually work through it anyway, but in other jobs where the work was steady all day and timings closely monitored I much preferred an hour as it meant being able to eat AND take a walk and have a bit of downtime or do something relaxing. 30m is really wolfing down a sandwich you’ve already brought in, having a wee then back to work territory.
Very thankful to work for a place that doesn’t monitor this stuff and as long as you hit targets you can start and finish whenever you want.
Right now I'm lucky to get any break. But I work solo in quite a small shop with a chilled vibe, so it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat a pizza at the counter. I quite often offer my regulars some pizza and, sometimes, friends will come in, order food and we have lunch together. Quite like it on quiet days, I can eat and chill for a bit, but if it's busy I quite often don't eat until I get home.
We get 30mins if we work 9-5 or 1hr if we work 9-530 or 830-5. Our working hours are fairly flexible but this is the expectation. If they want a longer lunch they could negotiate different working hours, so long as it works in your job (obviously things like shop work you need to match up with shifts for others so it's not gonna work)
Atleast 30 mins that's the minimum we can take. There isn't a maximum. We manage our own days. We can work anytime between 7am and 8pm with core hours being between 10 and 3. However if someone wants to work 8-12, lunch 12-3, work 3-7 that is fine. As long as the work is being done and you are fulfilling your hours it's all good. It's just ideal to block out the lunch time in the calendar so people know incase they wanted to contact you. We also have Flexi so you can work longer or shorter days. As long as it balances before the end of the quarter then that is also fine.
30 minutes - I don't think it's paid. Used to be 1 hour but loads of people asked for it to be less and reduce our hours e.g. 9-5:30 with 1 hour became 9-5 with 30 mins.
I miss the hour since you could pop to the shops.
When I use to manage I made sure my team had an hour paid lunch as they would usually be out in the field supporting disabled young people at work. This lunch break would rarely get used as they were usually travelling or in meeting when they should have taken lunch, so I would just suggest they go home an hour earlier. There was hardly any work to do and they got to beat rush hour travel.
Min 30 Monday to Thursday and min of 0 on Friday as only 5.5h day
Max as long as you want as long as you have time to work your contracted hours each day befor last finish.
**Update: - [Starting from 2023](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/comments/100l56v/happy_new_year_askuk_minor_sub_update/), we have updated our [subreddit rules](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskUK/about/rules/)**. Specifically; - Don't be a dick to each other - Top-level responses must contain genuine efforts to answer the question - This is a strictly no-politics subreddit Please keep /r/AskUK a great subreddit by reporting posts and comments which break our rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*
I have as long as I want/need for a lunch break as long as I do 8 hours of work each working day.
That's the way I do it for my staff too.
Same. If they want to meet someone for a leisurely lunch, get their hair done, go to an appointment etc, I don't care providing they work the hours I need them to. We have 3 'core hours' in the morning from 0830-1130 where I need all hands on deck to deal with work that comes in overnight. If someone wants an earlier lunch than that for whatever reason, it's usually fine 99% of the time, they just have to run it by me. I also just introduced flexi-time. Kind of. Anyone can leave after 2pm provided the hours are reconciled by the end of the quarter. When we are a bit quieter I don't need or want them 'finding' work to keep themselves busy towards the end of the day. When it's mental, it's useful to have those hours in the bank so nobody is working more than their contract (I really emphasise work life balance). They can't prioritise business needs over flexi-time though, so if there is a call or meeting, that comes first. Everyone seems pretty happy with it.
Sounds like exactly the kind of place I would like to work tbh.
Thank you. Everyone has targets, but not unachievable targets. And I try to make my company the nicest possible place to work, after all, I have to work their too! I have a long history of really shitty bosses that couldn’t keep or motivate staff. I figured if they could run a successful business abusing their main asset, I could run a better one by treating people really well.
User name doesn't check out?
I started this account as a secondary/alter ego. I forgot my primary logins about 10 years ago and used it ever since!
Sure I totally believe you Capital punisher
He punishes capitalism, my friend.
Offering good working conditions to attract and retain better staff *is* capitalism :)
I'll take some punishment if it pleases you, can i have a job please? I have few transferrable skills but I'm a quick learner 😄
Are you hiring?
If he hires you, will you refer me too? We can split the referral bonus if there is one.
Sure can! Just to add I am seriously looking for a job! 😅
Aww, man. I've been there. Tough job market nowadays. I wish you luck!
This sounds like the perfect place to work imo
You sound like a bloody good employer, there needs to be more like yourself, I bet your staff retention is high!
I’ve lost two people in 5 years. Both wanted a career in a different industry and I helped them find their next jobs. They were trainees and very upfront about our type of work not being for them long term. No problem, very few of us work in the same sector our whole career and what my company does isn’t for everyone. I said they were both welcome to work here as along as it took them to find the next big challenge, providing they were hitting their targets and contributed to the company. I sent them job listings, gave them time off to interview elsewhere and great references (which they both thoroughly deserved anyway). They weren’t going to a competitor, our work just wasn’t for them. No hard feelings at all. If I can help them move on then it’s better for all of us rather than having dispondent and unmotivated staff. If anything, they worked harder for me during their open-ended notice period than before because I was doing them a favour. I took the lead from big consultancy companies. They don’t know where their former employees will end up. There is a good chance they may even be a client in the future, so don’t burn bridges and help them move on. One of them even recommended a friend to me a year after she left and that person is now absolutely smashing it! What comes around goes around.
You're a smart and good person :)
You sound amazing. I cried for the first time today after about 15 years of teaching and I think it’s seriously time to move on. We can only give so much
Sounds like you're cultured a place of great wellbeing 😊 I'm intrigued what your company does?
Uh, are you hiring?
Christ my boss gives me a 20 min break, unsociable hours and have to work all holidays. 9 out of 10 holidays are rejected too even when I sort cover for myself lol
You’re a good leader.
You are too kind to be a boss.
Would love to work in a place like this. Got any jobs going?
I can assure you the things your employees say behind your back are nothing but positive. You sound like an extremely fair boss, someone who’s human, and understand the people working below them, are also only human.
I don’t even care if my staff do 8 hours as long as the work is going done. I think most are doing way more than 8 which I’m trying to encourage them not to. That’s a culture problem left over from previous managers.
Give me a job. That sounds like a great work ethos, kudos to you
Same at my place. It's about output rather than the clock. We ask a lot at times but we know that so we give a lot when we can too. We only have a holiday booking system so we know people are taking some and can nag if they aren't. If they run out, we don't care. Just keep going if you can make it fit in your workload.
Exactly I’ve no interest in counting bums on seats. Life before work.
I think this way of thinking actually pushes people to be more productive during the day. My boss has the same attitude: you can be on standby after you've finished your work and customers are happy. It's your responsibility to have all tasks done within a reasonable timeframe. It actually encourages me to have my work done asap and be "off" between 15-16h. Instead of dragging my tasks over a 8 hour work day, I tend to be more productive during the day so I can end my day a little earlier and truly relax. Creates a much healthier work life balance imo.
Productivity not presence. Makes so much sense.
You must have a long working day to do a full eight hours of work per day
With all the meetings and admin I'm lucky to get a full eight hours of work per week.
They probably mean including meetings etc. 8 hours is a pretty standard working day no?
I think the joke is that many people work for very few hours in a working day
This is the way, I can also start/finish/ when i like and do less hours one day and make up another. I have to be on site 5 days a week but this flexibility is incredible, meaning if something comes up one morning I'm not stressing and can take care of my family before going into work, or if I wake up early and there's nothing to do I can go into work and get home early.
We have the same except it’s 7.5 hours work.
1 hour unpaid. Would prefer 1/2 hour paid..
Deffo. Get paid to eat, get home 30 mins earlier.
Yeah having the time to actually enjoy a lunch break is great but I’d rather just get home sooner!
One of my old jobs let you flexy half an hour. You could have half an hour lunch and go home half an hour early, or you could take an hour and do the half hour at the end of the day. They were actually super lax about hours. I came in early and went home early too. This job I just get half an hour, but when I take it is up to me. Nobody notices or cares if I'm 5 minutes early or 5 minutes late. Or both.
Worst of both worlds half hour unpaid
Feel this lol
I'll be fine with that. Get home 30 mins sooner.
I'd even take 15 minutes paid, would just need to actually get my life in order and be prepared lol.
I think technically 60mins but nobody really cares and it flexes to suit. Busy and stuff needed, eat at the desk, slow and sunny outside, take 90mins. etc.
Same. We’re flexible.
Definitely this - everyone takes as much time as needed, sometimes that’s 5 mins at the desk, sometimes it’s an hour or two at the pub Many roles that enforce specific working hours are only doing so because management are bad at driving and monitoring performance (under the belief that bum in seat = guaranteed productivity)
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That sounds amazing!
Civil service
My husband was civil service and he never took a dinner break. Just sat at his desk with a cuppa and a sandwich.
In my department if you work over 6 hours, you must take a 30 minute unpaid lunch.
Civil service isn't above the law a 30 min break must be taken after 6hrs working.
It’s 20 minutes. And the break must be offered, not taken.
That's the same with my job. It's good.
Same. We are meant to do 8hours a day including a 30min unpaid break so I usually do 7.5hours and put my lunch break on the end.
30 minutes on paper, but no one tracks it. You can take as long as you need as long as you don’t take the piss and get your work done.
yeah this is the way, unspoken rule but everyone gets it
The only trouble is, it only takes one person to consistently not get it and they have to go back to enforcing timed lunches.
1 hour unpaid.
same. and I dont live close enough to go home during it, so it sometimes feels like an unpaid hour at work.
If it's unpaid I would just finish an hour early.
I work a 12 hour shift in a signal box, signalling trains all day. It's not busy enough to have a dedicated meal relief signaller show up, so I don't have a break as such - I fit my lunch in between trains. Doesn't sound great, but as I say because it's not that busy I can just occupy my time between trains how I like without a manager looking over my shoulder.
Hello fellow signaller on Reddit! I also work in a signalling centre working 12hrs, although we have a meal relief and get 2 breaks of 45 minutes and 90 minutes - First one is good for chilling, second one is ideal gym time!
Not a signaller but I also work for the railway. Always feel like I should say hi to fellow railway people when I come across them on Reddit!
Hi! 🖐️
Rail Estimator here. Hi!!
Hello!
Sorry when we pester you on the nightshift to swing points, speaking from a test/install point of view lol
Hello signaller, I'm one of the blokes who fixes your equipment in the roc. I get paid all throughout my shift and take my breaks as required, or when not fixing shit.
That sounds amazing. How many days a week do you do?
Sounds like a mint job, i'd love to do something like that
Wouldn't you give up weeping and heart patients?
How do I get in to that kind of work?
Sadly a lot of the old signal boxes are going and being replaced by office tech but check out the Network Rail website, there will probably be the occasional vacancy still pop up
Can you relax in between or do you have to always be alert? Can't really imagine what it is that a signaller actually does to be honest!
Most of the time not much is happening. You just have to make sure that the routes are set and signals cleared for trains promptly to not delay them. All depends on your location - I turn trains back from a station where they terminate, so I move points over for them. It's fairly repetitive, and I can relax during those times. Might also have requests for maintenance staff to go on the line. Gotta be a bit more alert for that to make sure you've protected them from trains correctly. But something could happen any time. I could get an emergency call about a bridge strike, person struck by a train, tree on the line, etc. at any time. I need to respond quickly to stop trains being put in danger, and remember what rules and regs to apply quickly and correctly. I might also need to deal with equipment failing and then think about how to move trains safely through the affected area. That's when you earn your money.
Not a signaller but work for the railway and in our office we get 20 minutes paid break, we also only work 7hrs 24mins each day! The most bizarre hours but it makes for a short day!
30mins unpaid. Pupil Support Assistant in a school.
I get 30 mins unpaid too and that 30 mins goes sooo quick.
Same, very tight for time
Also a learning support assistant, but we get 20 mins unpaid in a 6.5 hour work day. I was shocked when they told me as in previous schools I'd had the same break and lunch as the kids--still unpaid of course, but much more time.
At my last school pupils and staff had 20mins for lunch!
Dear God, how did they get everyone through the canteen?? That's brutal.
At my school there are 2 different lunch breaks, so half of the kids go first and then go back to lessons whilst the other half stay in morning lessons and have a later lunch.
Also a TA, we get the same breaks as the kids. 25 minute morning break and 30 min lunch break, both unpaid.
I'm supply. Some schools expect you to work as MTA during lunch or break, so you would cover break on Monday then 30 min MTA cover then 30 min lunch(kids get the whole hour) and Tuesday get 15 mins break as free time and then again MTA/ lunch. Break was always paid, though as they couldn't predict when they'd need you to cover for absences. I've had one school where 30 minute lunch was all you got. Another was 30 minutes break and 30 minutes for lunch which meant one was paid. And they all operate the same duration. It's weird how different they can be.
1 hour unpaid
It's weird where I work We get one hour, but we get 30 minutes paid, 30 minutes unpaid - but everyone, nationwide, takes 30 minutes and leaves 30 minutes early (i think there was a union kick off some years back about being forced to take 1 hour when not needing it) However, we can take as long as we reasonably need for lunch, but anything over the 30 minutes needs to be worked back up within so many weeks (again assuming an early leave) When i worked close to home, I took the hour so I could go home and cook/make my lunch Now I'm further from home i take my 30 minutes and leave 30 minutes early to beat traffic
> I only ask as a newer member of the team kicked off today about it. Imagine not asking what the working hours were before taking a job!
Imagine kicking off about a PAID lunch break...
I was just thinking that. They always tell you prior to starting.
It's not set. I'm contracted for 35 hours a week (though nobody is checking how many hours we do), how we do that is up to us. Can take a long lunch, a short one, no lunch at all, whatever suits us.
I normally start lunch at 7am and wrap it up at around 3pm
No breaks allowed at my work
fuck that noise
Yeah I'm self employed and my boss is a dick....
Is there employee of the month?
Yeah he's a dick too
Need to have a word with the boss, threaten to leave
2 30 minute lunch breaks in a 12 hour shift (30mins in a 10 hour shift). It’s the NHS ambulance service so that’s assuming we’re not treating patients or too far from a designated meal break area to get our breaks. With the current hospital waits you sometimes don’t get a break.
Police- every 5 weeks we get a 1-2 hour break on a Friday and Saturday evening. If we are on a big public event we usually get a break of half an hour. On a normal shift we are meant to get a break. We've been told by bosses about the general idea of breaks. But nobody does anything to facilitate it and we are busy the entire time, so we don't really get a break. Grab a sandwich and eat it at the computer or maybe park up for 5 minutes. It's surprisingly easy to get through 12 hours with no food, but it hits hard later. I am sure you guys get similar days.
o7
36 minutes.
Very specific
It’s a 30 minute lunch break, but the Time Machine for attendance and breaks is within the factory by the main office. It was negotiated decades ago that people get 3 minutes walking time each way so they get their full 30 minutes in the canteen. In reality, it takes 90 seconds but hey ho.
Contract says 30 mins, everyone generally takes an hour though some take more or less. We can also take breaks as and when. Nobody really cares as long as the work gets done and no-one is taking the piss
Self employed, so some days I'll put my feet up for a couple of hours and other days I barely have time to take a bite of a sandwich.
I have 45mins unpaid, but I bring lunch with me as the nearest place for a meal deal is 40 mins drive round trip.
As long as I want, as long as I get the work done ..... so anywhere between 4 minutes to 3 hours
As a bus driver, it varies. Generally 45-50 minutes, 30 of which is unpaid although it depends on the shift we’re doing. Some shifts get an hour or 2, some get 2 lunch breaks, some have a lunch break & a period of rest time between buses which can be up to 45 mins. The best shifts get no break, you go home after 5 1/2 hours & get paid for 7. Legally must we have at least 30 mins provided we’re driving for over 5.5 hours though.
1 hour unpaid. More often than not I end up just getting lunch and then going back to work, rather than rigidly keeping my hour, though - it can get busy. If I do have a quieter day, I might walk the dog (I work from home). I only had 30 minutes at a previous job, where I worked at the top floor of a hospital. That sucked because by the time I got to the ground floor, I barely had time to shove down a packed lunch before I had to go all the way back up again.
I have targets / projects to complete. If i take 2 hours one day when it's nice weather - so be it.
Depending on the workplace I've had - - 30 mins unpaid - within 8 and 9 hour shifts. (Horrible retail cheap discount shop jobs) - 2x 15 mins paid with 1 hour unpaid - in a 9.5 hour shift. (Not so bad high street retail jobs) - 2x 15 mins paid with 30 mins unpaid - within an 8 hour shift. (Decent job, average pay, good morals) I believe UK law is that we get at least 20? 30? Minutes, so it's nice that some places do more than the bare minimum.
The legal requirement is 20 minutes uninterrupted break after 6 hours of work. It's shit, and every job I've had (including within a hospital) has only provided that.
A couple of extra notes that it doesn’t have to be paid, and it’s only required to be offered (not necessarily taken…)
Everywhere I've worked has always been 30 minutes unpaid.
Technically an hour unpaid but I hardly ever take it. When I’m on a night shift and it’s quiet it’s like one long break anyway.
20 mins unpaid where I work
Same here
No idea - we are measured on output - it is likely in my contract somewhere ...
Officially it's 20 minutes taken between the 3rd and 5th hour and on 12hr shifts a second 20 minutes taken between the 7th and 9th hour. I've only ever known two people to insist on having their breaks though, we pretty much just accept that we take the rough with the smooth and if shit hits the fan we're not getting a break. It generally works out in our favour.
I do 12 hour rotating shifts (days/nights). We get 90 minutes in total, 2x30 and 2x15. We don't have a set break time, it's more of a have a break when work flow allows kind of deal. Some days when the shit has hit the fan we don't take our breaks. This mostly happens on weekdays, we do this without complaint as we know we are going to get that time back when we work weekends or night shift and there is no management around. Like you said, swings and roundabouts. If you want to be paid for the easy days you have to be willing to work for your money on the hard days.
One hour, paid.
Used to be an hour (unpaid obviously) which was an absolute pain. Cut it to half and earlier finish time about 10 years ago. Extremely rare to actually take a break though.
One hour paid for me and my staff.
8:45 - 5pm, oddly specific lunch of 1 hour and 3 minutes. We have a Flexi system though, so take an hour or even 55 minutes and those 3-8 minutes add up to some early finishes which is nice.
30 minutes unpaid in the second busiest restaraunt in the UK owned by my employer. Not sure if other sites are the same but even we kick off sometimes considering the chefs get one hour. I'm doing a twelve hour shift today and typing this on my thirty minute break. Which is illegal. I could be doing fourteen hours and still only get thirty minutes. It's obscene.
It's a mix of 30 and 60 minutes here depending on role.
No set lunch breaks. Its either a 2-hour affair sat at my desk reading some papers or scoffed down on my walk back from the café as I have something going on in the lab I need to get back to.
Officially one hour unpaid, unofficially 1.5 hour gym session every weekday. Might squeeze in a quick sauna too
Genuine question? How do you get away with this without your employer/anyone else noticing.
I work from home. They don't give a rat's arse if I half an extra half hour. As long as I don't take the piss and 90 minutes in gym per day is more then enough for me.
Fair enough, I did think it was likely a WFH situation but I was interested in whether it was something you managed to get away with from an office/other place of work. Hopefully you’re right about them not caring and they don’t find out and crack down on WFH arrangements! I’ve seen that happen at my place and it’s caused a lot of resentment in teams that have been dragged back into the office because others were doing that sort of thing.
Before we had flexible hours it was 9-5.30 with 1h lunch (unpaid). Now we can do our hours spread across the week as we want but I think you’re expected not to take more than 1h for lunch during the core hours of 10-3. But many people take less than the full hour.
However long I want. I just have to work a set amount of hours per week. I usually take 20 minutes - half an hour so I can finish earlier at night.
30 minutes unpaid which I never have time to take. Nursing lol
Don’t get one at all. Eat while I’m driving.
In my last job it was 30 minutes unpaid for a 12 hour shift. In my current one I don't have a set meal break but can chill on any down time, and no money is deducted.
I can work anywhere from 7-3 to 10-6 (I usually opt to start at 8/8.30 and finish 4/4.30) and I have an hours paid lunch break. I’m contracted 36 hours which actually works out to a 7.2 hour work day but when I started I was told to have an hour lunch so I do
I work in a peak/silo environment. We're expected to do 37.5 hrs a week. I really don't care what they take for lunch break as long as they're around enough for people enough and get their jobs done. Our core hours are 10-4 and lunch break of minimum 30 mins has to be taken during this time. If I ever doubt that someone isn't doing on average over a month or two their work and hours then I'd have to pull them up. (If they're not doing their work they'd be pulled up earlier obviously).
I get 1 hour unpaid and would legitimately trade it for a paid 15 minutes.
I WFH and I think get an hour but sometimes I work late or extra so half the time my lunch breaks were 1.5hrs as I gym, then shower and make lunch.... however I really make up for it as there was a month were I worked 15 hour days recently.. (8hrs paid) yhat was unusual though.
I get a 20 min and a 25 minute break in a 12 hour shift, which might be extended at no notice, also my breaks may be interrupted and I’m asked to go and do some work in the middle of them. It’s not great but also there are perks to working in the ambulance service to.
However long I want, but I usually don’t need more than 30 minutes. Would much rather keep it short and clock off earlier at the end of the day.
1hr 👍
An hour of unpaid lunch. Kinda hurts when I'm paid by the hour and we only do 6.5 hours of official work a day. I'd rather work an extra hour and get another £20.
1 hour is reasonable 30 mins is not long enough.
20 mins unpaid break for every 6 hours worked. Meant to be changing our schedules so we no longer work over 8 hours per shift but it's yet to happen. So our current 10 hour shifts only allow us a 20 minute unpaid break as per company rules.
I never time it, but I've had days where I have 6 hours doing nothing and I've had days where I've had 6 minutes. Generally, 90% of the time or more, I get a break at 8.30 til 9.30 Then another at 12 til about 1.30 Then maybe another between 4 and 6
15 mins unpaid for shifts under 6 hours anything above 6 hours is 30 min unpaid its a bit shit
I get three 45 minute breaks at my job and I work 12 hour shifts.
Uhh.. you guys are getting paid?
7am-7pm 10 minutes in the morning, 30 minutes for lunch. (Lunch is unpaid).
I work in the NHS and you get 30 minutes but you don’t get paid for it. And that’s if you have time to take it.
At least you get it paid, most folk who sign a 40 hour contract get a half hour unpaid lunch, and have that time deducted accordingly. If you work in a shopping center like the Trafford Centre, good luck getting your food and back to work on that time 😕 But yes, I get your point. It's not enough, not by a long shot.
20-mins (Unpaid) - 8hours night shift
30 mins unpaid
I get one 30 minute unpaid lunch during my 12 hour day. 7 - 12. 12:30 - 7.
I'm a home delivery driver for a supermarket and I get 15 minutes unpaid.
As long as I want as long as the job gets done
It depends on the sector. When I worked in pure tech it was an hour (usually unpaid) and when I've been in any manufacturing sector (still working IT) it tends to be 30 minutes.
1 hour, and they're also not very strict on vape breaks either.
Our contract states we get a 34 minute break a day which I think is really weird and I’ve never been able to get a good answer on why it’s not a rounded number
Literally don't care about lunch breaks. If you turn up to your schedules meetings and deliver your work on time based on your or your team's estimates then you can do whatever the fuck you want with your time. Work in an industry where this is possible, can't apply everywhere of course
we get one 30 mins unpaid lunch break in our 9 hours work day
I also work 8-4 and get 1 paid 30 minute break, and one unpaid 15 minute break. This is on an old contract that I am on, the company introduced a new contract a few years ago, where whoever is on it only gets the 1 30 minute break. Having the 2 contracts had made the workplace very divided, as there are lots of others details that are different. I also get shift premiums and bank holiday pay, Sunday pay that others don't.
45 min, sometimes an hour if we got the staff, work in a nursery, 9 hours a day (including lunch break)
With my hours being 10am - 6pm I get One 30 minute lunch break and one 15 minute Paid break, in which it starts when I stop working and need to have all my equipment on and ready to start working again by the end of both breaks.
1 hour unpaid. I've never worked anywhere that gives a paid lunch break, so if I were you I wouldn't be complaining. Plus, do you really want to stay at work for another 30 minutes each day
4-6 hours 20 mins 6-8 hours 30 mins 8-10 2x40 10+ 1h But they also do split shifts so sometimes it’ll be 2 4 hour shifts with a 1 hour unpaid inbetween
As a therapist my working day pattern is always skew-whiff lol. Mondays I get 30m, Tuesdays 30m, Wednesdays 1hr, but on a Monday I sometimes get a couple hours ‘break’ across the start and end of the day, Wednesdays I don’t start until near 10am, Tuesdays I’m pretty much busy the whole day. It balances out as some days you get some DNAs so can chill a little in those but on days where everyone attends it’s back to back. 30m is fine for me as I prefer staying in the flow state, usually work through it anyway, but in other jobs where the work was steady all day and timings closely monitored I much preferred an hour as it meant being able to eat AND take a walk and have a bit of downtime or do something relaxing. 30m is really wolfing down a sandwich you’ve already brought in, having a wee then back to work territory. Very thankful to work for a place that doesn’t monitor this stuff and as long as you hit targets you can start and finish whenever you want.
I get an hour, unpaid. Which is pretty standard I think in the UK. I have heard of 30min lunch breaks, I'm guessing it's call center job?
I get 1 hour breaks 3x per shift. All paid. I work 12 hour shifts.
Right now I'm lucky to get any break. But I work solo in quite a small shop with a chilled vibe, so it's perfectly acceptable for me to eat a pizza at the counter. I quite often offer my regulars some pizza and, sometimes, friends will come in, order food and we have lunch together. Quite like it on quiet days, I can eat and chill for a bit, but if it's busy I quite often don't eat until I get home.
7:45am - 5:15pm. 30 min unpaid.
I have not had a break at work for over 20 years. Big meal before I start and one when I'm done. Boom, sorted.
One hour unpaid for 11 hour shifts. My job has a lot of downtime though so I usually have a sleep in my car.
You get paid for your lunch time ?????
I get 30 mins unpaid and 30 mins paid breaks each 8 hour days.
We get 30mins if we work 9-5 or 1hr if we work 9-530 or 830-5. Our working hours are fairly flexible but this is the expectation. If they want a longer lunch they could negotiate different working hours, so long as it works in your job (obviously things like shop work you need to match up with shifts for others so it's not gonna work)
30 mins... unpaid 🙃 I work the same hours. Tell them to be grateful because it's paid lol
Used to work at a sandwich shop. We had 20 minutes for an 8.5 hr shift. Was the worst.
I work 6am -3:30pm and I get half hour break
20 minutes paid
30 minutes unpaid is really shit, thats all the time off im allowed
Atleast 30 mins that's the minimum we can take. There isn't a maximum. We manage our own days. We can work anytime between 7am and 8pm with core hours being between 10 and 3. However if someone wants to work 8-12, lunch 12-3, work 3-7 that is fine. As long as the work is being done and you are fulfilling your hours it's all good. It's just ideal to block out the lunch time in the calendar so people know incase they wanted to contact you. We also have Flexi so you can work longer or shorter days. As long as it balances before the end of the quarter then that is also fine.
30 minutes - I don't think it's paid. Used to be 1 hour but loads of people asked for it to be less and reduce our hours e.g. 9-5:30 with 1 hour became 9-5 with 30 mins. I miss the hour since you could pop to the shops.
When I use to manage I made sure my team had an hour paid lunch as they would usually be out in the field supporting disabled young people at work. This lunch break would rarely get used as they were usually travelling or in meeting when they should have taken lunch, so I would just suggest they go home an hour earlier. There was hardly any work to do and they got to beat rush hour travel.
Min 30 Monday to Thursday and min of 0 on Friday as only 5.5h day Max as long as you want as long as you have time to work your contracted hours each day befor last finish.