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Every once in a while it might be necessary to grab a lunch on the go while working but as a habit it simply isn’t very healthy.

National Take Back the Lunch Break Day is here to remind folks that a legitimate lunch break in the middle of the work day is an important part of a balanced lifestyle!

How to Celebrate National Take Back the Lunch Break Day

This is a day to redeem something that has been lost to the modern culture of workaholism and busyness.

Celebrate and enjoy National Take Back the Lunch Break Day with some ideas and activities that will commemorate it, like these:

Take a Real Lunch Break

Instead of just rushing around to grab some drive-thru fast food and swallowing it down while working, those who are able to should try to set aside some extra time today to take a real, authentic lunch break. Celebrate National Take Back the Lunch Break Day with intentionality!

Eat a healthy and energizing meal, complete with protein and vegetables, and try to avoid fatty or greasy foods that can tend to make a person tired.

For many people, a great way to make the most out of a lunch break is to plan in advance and bring a lunch to work. Packing a meal made at home is a way to cut down on the time spent going to get food, offering more time to eat slowly and thoughtfully.

Improve Company Culture

It’s true that many companies, especially those in the US, only offer a very short lunch break to their employees, which makes for a negative company culture and lifestyle. And there is no legal protection to change this.

While some businesses tend to treat employees as robots or machines, it’s important to remember that modern work culture can lead to burnout, which is not good for anyone – including the company.

Those who are in positions of authority in their jobs, including managers, executives and business owners, should consider observing National Take Back the Lunch Break Day by incorporating their own research about company culture in their sphere of influence.

Ask questions about how it might be possible to shift the culture of the business to provide better lunch breaks, creating happier and healthier employees – which leads to a happier and healthier world!

Take Time for Personal Health

Those who can wrangle an hour out of a lunch break can make it not only a time to eat but also for mental, emotional and physical health on National Take Back the Lunch Break Day!

Enjoying a brisk walk before or after eating is also a very good idea that promotes healthy digestion and keeps the body in tip-top shape. Others might be interested in taking 10-15 minutes of their lunch break to practice silence, solitude and meditation to help get their minds back into a healthy framework.

National Take Back the Lunch Break Day Timeline

  1. Early Factory Laws Begin Regulating Meal Times

    The UK Factory Act of 1844 limits hours for women and children in textile mills and requires set meal times, helping turn the midday meal into a scheduled “lunch break” in industrial workplaces.

  2. Shorter-Hours Movement Shapes the Workday

    From President Van Buren’s 1840 ten‑hour order for federal laborers to the Adamson Act of 1916, U.S. reforms shorten the workday toward eight hours, creating space in the schedule for a distinct midday break. [1]

  3. Industrial Work Leaves Little Time for Midday Meals

    As U.S. factories expand, many laborers, including children, work long shifts with scant or rushed meal periods, prompting early labor campaigns that eventually influence expectations about humane hours and rest. [1]

  4. Urban Lunch Clubs Support Office and Shop Workers

    Women’s lunch clubs and company lunchrooms appear in American cities, giving clerks and store workers inexpensive, organized midday meals and helping normalize the idea of a dedicated lunch hour outside the home. [1]

  5. White‑Collar Expansion Reinvents the Office Lunch

    As white‑collar employment surges in the United States, sociologists note a distinct office culture where the “lunch hour” becomes a daily ritual, from brown‑bagging at desks to business lunches in restaurants. [1]

  6. NIOSH Shows Extra Rest Breaks Aid Workers Without Cutting Output

    A U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study in a meat‑processing plant finds that adding short rest breaks improves worker well‑being and does not reduce productivity, reinforcing evidence for structured breaks. [1]

  7. Meta‑Analysis Confirms Benefits of Short Work Breaks

    A PLOS ONE systematic review of “micro‑breaks” concludes that brief pauses from work reliably boost vigor, reduce fatigue and can aid performance, supporting the health and productivity value of stepping away, including at lunch. [1]

History of National Take Back the Lunch Break Day

National Take Back the Lunch Break Day was created in 2018 by Tork, a leading professional hygiene brand, in response to the decline of the employee lunch break in today’s 24/7 work culture.

According to research conducted by Tork, employees who take a lunch break score higher on a wide range of engagement metrics, including job satisfaction and productivity.

Tork’s study also revealed that nearly 90 percent of employees consider the ability to take a lunch break critical when accepting a new job.

However, once they are on the job, the average lunch break is less than 30 minutes for more than half of North American workers – barely enough time to purchase a meal, let alone enjoy it.

That’s why Tork created National Take Back the Lunch Break Day, to help improve workplace morale, satisfaction and productivity across North America.

The Tork Take Back the Lunch Break idea is simple: with more workers taking their lunch break, it is possible to improve workplaces and worker happiness!

On the third Friday in June, North American workers –and perhaps workers from other places in the world – are encouraged to take back their lunch breaks. Why? Because there has been an increasing trend to take less frequent and shorter lunch breaks, affecting employee morale and well-being.

According to Tork’s research, only one in three employees are engaged at work. Because engagement affects productivity, happiness and job satisfaction, it is time employees and employers across North America stepped up to the plate – the lunch plate that is! Break the cycle of skipping lunch or eating in front of a computer.

Get away from that desk and enjoy some fresh air, a real lunch and some social interaction. Because it’s time to celebrate National Take Back the Lunch Break Day!

Facts About National Take Back the Launch Break Day

  • Lunch Breaks Are Not Guaranteed Under U.S. Federal Law  

    In the United States, there is no federal requirement that employers provide any lunch or coffee breaks at all.

    Under the Fair Labor Standards Act, short breaks that an employer chooses to offer, typically between 5 and 20 minutes, must be counted as paid working time, while bona fide meal periods of about 30 minutes or longer can be unpaid if the worker is fully relieved of duties.

  • States Can Differ Wildly on Meal-Break Rights  

    Because federal law leaves meal periods largely up to employers and states, workers’ rights to a lunch break vary sharply across the country.

    California law, for example, generally requires a 30‑minute meal period when an employee works more than five hours and a second 30‑minute meal period after ten hours, while states like Texas have no state-level requirement for meal or rest breaks for most adult workers.

  • Even Where Lunch Is Protected, Many Workers Do Not Take It

    Legal entitlements do not always translate into real breaks.

    A large Totaljobs survey of 7,135 UK employees found that more than half did not take their full lunch break and used only about 24 minutes of an allotted 40 minutes on average, with roughly one in three saying they never left their workplace once they arrived in the morning.

  • Regularly Skipping Meals Is Common in Some Workforces

    Research on hospital staff in South Korea found that meal skipping was a routine part of life for many employees: 36.2 percent skipped lunch on at least one day each week, alongside high rates of skipping breakfast and dinner.

    The study linked frequent meal skipping to less healthy behaviors overall, highlighting how work patterns can erode basic self-care like eating a midday meal.

  • Longer Breaks Restore Performance Better Than Micro-Pauses 

    A large meta-analysis of workplace “micro-breaks” reported that short pauses help with energy and fatigue, but that recovering from demanding tasks often requires breaks longer than 10 minutes.

    The review found that performance benefits generally increased as breaks became longer, which supports the idea that a proper lunch interval can restore focus more effectively than a few scattered micro-pauses.

  • Extra Rest Breaks Can Increase Productivity Despite Less Continuous Work

    In a classic U.S. National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health study at a meat-processing plant, adding more frequent short rest breaks did not harm output.

    On the contrary, workers’ overall productivity improved and measures of discomfort decreased, even though the additional pauses slightly reduced the time spent on the production line.

  • Shortening Lunch Breaks Has Become a Notable Work-Culture Trend

    Industry surveys in the United States show that the typical lunch break has been getting shorter over time.

    Workforce.com, summarizing multi-year survey data, reported the average U.S. lunch break shrinking from about 43 minutes in 2014 to 39 minutes in 2018, alongside findings that many employees fear being judged by managers or colleagues if they step away from work for a full midday break.

National Take Back the Lunch Break Day FAQs

What are the main health and well-being effects of regularly working through lunch?

Regularly working through lunch is associated with higher fatigue, more stress, and less opportunity for recovery during the day, which over time can contribute to reduced well-being and greater risk of burnout.

Occupational health research shows that breaks, including midday breaks, help people mentally detach from work, reduce strain, and maintain performance, while skipped or rushed breaks are linked with higher exhaustion and lower self‑rated productivity over the course of the day.  

How do lunch breaks influence productivity and job performance, according to research?

Studies in organizational psychology find that employees who take genuine breaks, especially away from their workstations, tend to report better concentration, more energy, and higher self‑rated performance afterward.

Field experiments and diary studies show that detaching from work over lunch is associated with improved afternoon task focus and fewer performance errors, even though it temporarily reduces time at the desk.  

Research on recovery from work shows that regular opportunities to detach, such as lunch breaks, are associated with lower emotional exhaustion, which is a core component of burnout.

When employees consistently lack time to recover during and after workdays, including working through lunch, studies find higher levels of stress and a gradual increase in burnout symptoms over time.  

What does U.S. law actually require when it comes to lunch breaks at work?

Under U.S. federal law, employers are not required to provide lunch or coffee breaks at all.

If employers choose to offer short rest breaks, typically 5 to 20 minutes, that time must usually be paid, while bona fide meal periods of around 30 minutes or more can be unpaid if the worker is fully relieved of duties.

Many states add their own rules, so actual entitlements depend on state law and employer policy rather than a single nationwide standard.  [1]

How do lunch-break rules in Europe and the U.K. differ from the U.S. approach?

The European Union’s working time rules require minimum daily rest and limits on work hours, but detailed meal-break requirements are mostly set by each member state.

For example, U.K. law entitles most adult workers to at least one uninterrupted 20‑minute rest break when working more than six hours a day.

In contrast, U.S. federal law does not mandate any meal or rest break, leaving most protections to states or to individual employers’ policies.  [1]

What makes a lunch break genuinely restorative rather than just “time away from the keyboard”?

Research suggests that a lunch break is most restorative when it allows real mental detachment from work, is taken away from the primary work area, and includes enjoyable or relaxing activities such as socializing, being outdoors, or quiet time.

Even relatively short breaks can help if workers avoid checking emails or doing job tasks and instead focus on rest, recovery, or low‑pressure conversation.  

Do cultural traditions like the Mediterranean siesta or Swedish fika change how midday breaks are viewed?

In some Mediterranean and Latin countries, long midday breaks and going home for lunch were traditionally built into the workday, while in Sweden practices like “fika” emphasize social coffee breaks as a normal part of work.

These norms contrast with many North American workplaces, where eating quickly at the desk is common and breaks can be seen as a luxury.

Comparative research on working time shows that where breaks are embedded in culture or law, they are more likely to be taken and valued rather than skipped.  

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