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- Gen Z workers are most likely to skip lunch at least once a week, a survey found.
- They are more than twice as likely to worry their boss will disapprove of them taking lunch.
- Overall, 48% of employees go without lunch at least once a week.
That grumbling you hear might be your empty stomach — or it could be your Gen Z colleagues complaining because they skipped lunch.
The youngest members of the workforce tend to ditch their midday nosh in favor of a diet rich in productivity — or at least that's the intent. Gen Zers are most likely to skip that trip to Sweetgreen or their favorite sandwich place, according to an online survey by catering company eZCater.
Seven in 10 Gen Z workers report they don't take lunch at least once a week. That's compared with about half of millennial workers and four in 10 Gen Xers who skip lunch. Only about one-third of Boomers give up their midday meal.
Overall, 48% of workers go without lunch at least once a week.
The young — and apparently hungry — Gen Zers surveyed were twice as likely to worry their bosses would frown on them taking a break. They're also the generation most likely to block time on their calendars for a break, but the least likely to follow through, the survey found. When they do take lunch, they're most likely to step away for fewer than 30 minutes.
Gen Z's worries about taking lunch likely reflect their feelings about the work environment and about the pressures they're experiencing, Diane Swint, chief revenue officer at ezCater told Business Insider. "That has to do with something about culture," she said. "That is something any company can change."
Swint said older workers who are more likely to take lunches have been through prior economic cycles and might feel safer carving out time for lunch.
Like many diets, abstaining might not be all that helpful because taking lunch can be a valuable break. About half of all workers in the survey said they believe lunch leaves them feeling less burned out. There's evidence they're right; we know downtime can help boost focus.
Food can also bring people into the office. Swint said an employer in New York City saw a fivefold increase in office attendance when the employer started offering eZCater's app that lets workers order lunches paid for by the company.
The survey showed a similarly powerful free-lunch effect: About eight in 10 Gen Z workers say complimentary lunch would drive their decision to head into the office. Overall, 67% of hybrid workers would come in for some free lunch.
TikToker Brittany Finkelstein, who coaches people on reducing stress and boosting work-life resilience, recommends workers who are "chronic lunch-skippers" set two alarms: one for the time they want to eat lunch and one for five minutes before so they can wind down whatever they're working on. This way, people can be ready to step away from their desk and "eat lunch like a normal person."
Of course, not all Gen Zers skip lunch. Numerous TikToks focus on the differences in how various generations take lunch — and what gets discussed when they do.
What's replacing eating during lunch? About six in 10 say they're using their lunch break for something else, according to the survey. One in five workers told ezCater they had too many meetings to take a break.
A calendar stuffed with meetings can lead to the dreaded eating on camera. Three in 10 workers admit to doing it even though the majority of those surveyed agreed that snacking on screen is poor etiquette — especially when it's a call involving people outside their employer.
Beyond what a lunch break does for us at work, eating at the right times can boost health, according to scientists. And, of course, what we eat matters. Even for those of us who do make time for lunch, it's often not ideal to hit restaurants too much — both for our health and for our wallets.
The survey, conducted in August, involved 5,000 full-time US workers who go into an office at least part of the time.