Work Expectations

Recently I had dinner with old friends and the conversation inevitably turned to work. It was when they said a lunch break is a luxury that I got a little cross.

Not cross at them obviously, but at the situation. And here is why - my time is valuable and my life is busy, and if you want my time you should pay for it. Whether it's monetary or through being an amusing companion.  

I am incredibly grateful to have a job and for the 7 hours a day I am contracted to work I will give you 110%. But I do not get paid for working over my lunch break. Nor am I paid to work after 5.30pm. Being a morning person I usually start work at least an hour and a half early already so I can stay on top of things, which I am not paid for. 

Throw in eating "al desko" during your lunch break and that amounts to nearly 500 hours a year you work for free. That’s 500 hours I could spend writing, exercising, working through my never ending to-do list or spending with the people I love. 500 hours a year that I have essentially spent for no monetary gain or recognition.

It seems a little unfair that due to being awesome I can manage my time efficiently enough to complete my work so I am ready to leave at my contractual finishing time it looks like I am not working hard.

Perhaps if this country "woke up" a little earlier then there wouldn't be such an expectation to stay late. When I first arrived in the UK I was baffled that work didn't start until 9.30 and even then people swanned in about 10.00. By 10.00am I've usually got at least 2.5 hours of productivity under my belt.

So today, despite having quite a bit to do, I reclaimed my lunch break. My entire hour I spent outside in the sunshine walking. Upon my return to my desk I found that my productivity levels in the afternoon were much higher than they would normally be if I had stayed at my desk. Perhaps that tells us something?