After 6 months of being shunted out of our offices we’ve all learned some tricks on how to work from home; get a snazzy virtual background, dress your top half only and tidy your underwear off the floor before the Zoom calls start.
But what about the lunch break? At work we were used to grabbing your colleagues, walking to your closest Pret (start of the month) or Tesco (end of the month) and finding 5 minutes to rush down a sandwich, crisps and drink combo.
Surely a work from home lunch can beat that?
We think so; so here are our highly researched (an office Slack poll) on the absolute best lunch break:
Time 🕧
For some, this is a contentious matter but for us it’s simple. 12.30pm is lunchtime; no debate, no disagreements. The hunger starts at 12 but you have to hold out. If you jump the gun too early and start eating at 12 then the afternoon is ruined. You’ll be back at your desk at 1pm looking at 4 hours of afternoon slumber and hunger kicking in at 4pm.
The benefits of working from home mean that you’ve skipped a tedious commute in the morning and probably started earlier than usual; so maximise your lunch break and take the full hour to feel energised and ready for the afternoon.
Exercise 🤸
12.30pm — 12.55pm
We are full advocates of starting the lunch break with a short but sweet endorphin hit of exercise. Exercise doesn’t need to be a 10-mile pavement-pounding run; we recommend a 15 minute HIIT class. Get your YouTube video prepped the day before and load it up on a tablet or laptop. Have your kit ready and do a quick change — remember your bottom half can already be ready to go, then start your 15 minutes of fun (or hell…). After you’re done, jump in the shower for a quick splash of cold water and; feeling refreshed and…..hungry.
Here are some of our favourite sessions:
If that doesn’t take your fancy how about a 15-minute walk or a virtual reality boxing fight.
Food and News 😋
12.55pm — 1.15pm
So firstly let’s take a look at food. The key here is prep, prep, prep. Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean that your food prep goes out the window. You shouldn’t spend half your lunch hour looking at your empty fridge and trying to make a meal out of an out of date block of parmesan, a brown carrot and some wet leaves of rocket.
You should already know what you’re eating 24 hours in advance. Lunch should be a light — ish; nothing to give you the dreaded slump in the afternoon but enough to stop your stomach rumbling for at least a couple of hours.
Here are a few of our suggestions that take 5 minutes to make (if prepped in advance) and 10 minutes to eat.
Oh and whilst you’re cooking and eating get your update on the daily news. But resist the temptation to slump on the sofa and turn on Loose Women (once it’s on you can’t stop) and turn the radio on for a quick update on the latest news.
Social 📱
1.15pm — 1.25pm Social
Get your social time in with some friends or colleagues. Give yourself a designated time to do one of the following things:
- Find a hilarious meme and send it to all your WhatsApp groups.
- Call a friend out the blue and ask them how they are.
- Join in or organise a fun virtual activity with your work colleagues — we may be biased but HomeWerk is a great option for doing this once a week.
- Browse your favourite social network site, but challenge yourself to find 5 new accounts to follow to broaden your view from your current feed.
Mindfulness 🧘
1.25 — 1.30pm
Turn off all your notifications for 5 minutes and take time to relax your brain before you start the afternoon. Headspace is our app of choice where there are 3, 5, or 10-minute sessions for you to get started with. Or, if you happen to bank with American Express they’re currently offering a one-year free premium subscription to Calm!
So, can you fit all that in a lunch hour?
100%. And you’ll feel like a machine powering through the afternoon once you’ve done it 💪
Give it a try and let us know how you get on!
HomeWerk is a virtual team-building platform for remote teams. Our mission is to help employees make friends whilst working from home. The HomeWerk platform provides an easy way for teams to have fun through shared experiences whilst promoting healthy, modern workplace practises.
Fancy a free trial? Click here 👈
Want some further reading? Check out our post on how the best teams are beginning to embrace that “work hard, play hard” no longer need to conflict with one another!
