Why You Should Discourage Employees From Eating At Their Desk

Many of us are guilty of it. When work is busy, eating lunch at one’s desk can be convenient – you can munch on your food and still catch up on emails and make small edits to work. It seems like a pretty harmless act. However, eating at your desk could in fact be doing a lot of damage.

Here are just a few reasons as to why you should start discouraging your employees to eat at their desk:

Reduced productivity

Multi-tasking is something many of us do in order to be more productive, but in fact it can often have the opposite effect. When you multi-task, you’re not giving either task your full attention. This can lead to steps being forgotten or mistakes being made.

However, the real way in which eating and working can damage your productivity is by not allowing yourself a break. We need breaks to refocus our mind – this allows us to concentrate more effectively when we return.

Long term health risks

Failing to leave your desk means that you also fail to stretch your legs.

Sitting down all day can lead to sore joints, higher blood pressure and unengaged core muscles. In the long run, this can increase the risk of diseases such as arthritis and heart disease, as well as making us gain weight.

Crummy keyboards

Eating at your desk is also messy. Crumbs are likely to go everywhere – and crumbs attract vermin. In fact, studies have shown it’s not uncommon for mice to crawl over keyboards at night looking for food. This is something no-one wants.

How to stop employees eating at their desk

Some companies enforce a strict no-eating-at-desks rule. However, you may prefer to simply use encouragements rather than enforcing any rules. A few ways in which you can get employees away during lunch time include:

Educate your employees

Make sure your employees understand the negative effects of eating at their desk. Just like you, they may change their ways.

Provide a separate leisure area to eat

Consider setting up a leisure area in your office where employees can go on their break. You could add some fun features here such as a TV, a pool table or even a virtual pinball machine. This might encourage employees to use this space on their break rather than sitting at their desk.

Treat your team to lunch out

You can also get everyone away from their desks by treating your team to lunch out occasionally. Having lunch together can build camaraderie and it can help to break up the day by offering a new change of environment.

In fact, there are lots of benefits to getting our of the office during the day. 

© New To HR