When you take your lunch break at work, what do you wind up doing?

A new survey finds many workers don't follow through on plans to meet coworkers or get a little exercise during their lunch breaks. (Siri Stafford, ThinkStock)
A new survey finds many workers don't follow through on plans to meet coworkers or get a little exercise during their lunch breaks. (Siri Stafford, ThinkStock)
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A new survey finds many Garden State workers don't follow through on plans to spend their lunch with fellow workers or getting some exercise.

"Close to half of employees said they really wanted to enjoy a meal with a co-worker and share their mealtime, but the opposite happens. About 50 percent end up enjoying the meal by themselves or being alone at lunchtime," said Dora Onyschak, the branch manager for Accountemps in Woodbridge.

She said the Accountemps survey also found "while many say would love to exercise on their lunch break, only about 10 percent actually have the opportunity to do so."

Instead of working out or sharing lunch with a co-worker, Onyschak said people often use the time to take care of personal tasks.

"There are a lot of people that tend to run errands, they do some personal things either on the web or checking their personal email and about 3 percent of respondents actually do take naps during their lunch hour, while about 13 percent would like to do that," Onyschak said.

She said taking a real lunch break is beneficial for workers, because it gives them a chance to walk away, re-focus and re-energize a bit, but many people feel overwhelmed and wind up sitting at their desk eating while working.

More than 2,500 accounting and finance professionals across the United States were questioned for the survey. Onyschak said Accountemps does a lot of surveys that look at employee behavior and satisfaction, which is good for all organizations.

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