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Eating at your desk is banned in France

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Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#11

Post by dopidopHN »

sky-kedge0749 wrote: post #8
feet wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This. I eat at my desk because I want that break time to do something else that actually matters to me and furthers my own personal goals

In some places this can develop into the expectation that everyone eats while working at their desk every day. You're not shifting the free time, you're just losing it. Then anyone who announces "okay, off to a cafe, see you in an hour" is seen as slacking.

Yes. I see this law as a way to protect employees with less agency.

Nobody will actually enforce it, but employee will know that eating at a normal pace and taking a breather is an option.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#12

Post by dopidopHN »

wutbrodo wrote: post #10
damagednoob wrote: post #3

This is one of the reasons why I love to work from home. I'm not beholden to company policy that seeks to improve productivity at the expense of how I choose to structure my day. Maybe I eat at my desk so I can spend that hour lunch break with my kid in the afternoon. Maybe I'll take a 2 hour nap in the middle of the day because I didn't sleep well the previous night. I'm so glad to be rid of these inflexible, petty…

IMO the bulk of this is due to workplace culture, not being remote. Naturally being at home adds some logistical flexibility, but the bulk of the gap is between companies who treat their employees like toddlers and those who actually respect them as adults (see also: dress code for non-customer-facing work, overly-fixed hours, etc). You can see this distinction in the slow creep of employee-monitoring software over t…

Disagree on that law treating employee as children. It treats employers as such.

« Oh really company? you can’t have some common sense decency in regard to lunch? Alright, I will spell it out for you »

From the worker side, nobody will come to say anything if you decide to put grease on your keyboard and stain your shirt during lunch time. You are free to do so.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#13

Post by zdragnar »

thenerdhead wrote: post #7

We need more of this in America. Perhaps we just need to take the time ourselves and leave no apologies. Too many meetings get scheduled over lunch and people lose their windows of opportunity. This has somewhat shifted with remote work too and when one decides to take their lunch. I’ve started to do that at the beginning or end of the day because I know I won’t have a chance midday.

No, we really don't need more laws governing our behavior, especially at home.

Culturally, I do agree that people should have the opportunity to get mental breaks- things like non-working lunch ought to be as important as any meeting.

Writing it into law just creates more perverse incentives, though. Punishing people who chose to eat at their desk- even if they aren't working!- is asinine and counterproductive.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#14

Post by sokoloff »

thenerdhead wrote: post #7

We need more of this in America. Perhaps we just need to take the time ourselves and leave no apologies. Too many meetings get scheduled over lunch and people lose their windows of opportunity. This has somewhat shifted with remote work too and when one decides to take their lunch. I’ve started to do that at the beginning or end of the day because I know I won’t have a chance midday.

I have 12-1 blocked on my calendar every day. I will take the rare meeting in that slot (just like I'd take the rare "sit and eat with a colleague on a scheduled rather than ad-hoc basis" while we were in the office), but most days that's a meeting-free hour where I can go make lunch, walk the dog, listen to some music, or whatever suits me.

Blocking your calendar is low-effort and will likely be high-payoff.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#15

Post by causality0 »

Ninety minutes, free-flowing conversation, perhaps a glass of wine

Yuck. Of course it creates more productivity, they're sucking free time out of my evening and injecting into my work day. Screw that. I'm eating a sandwich at my desk in peace and then I'm going home an hour earlier than these shmucks.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#17

Post by izacus »

Zababa wrote: post #2

> Eating a salad at your desk may not be the most memorable kind of lunch, but at least you can get some work done. In France, that's forbidden. > The French labor code prohibits workers from eating lunch in the workplace. Is that a thing? At all my desk jobs I've had collegues (or myself) eating at their desks. It seems like it's indeed a thing https://grh.ooreka.fr/astuce/voir/266456/manger-a-son-poste-... , but I…

I've ever only seen people gobble down food while working on my visits in US. Across EU is much rarer.

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#19

Post by baggy_trough »

greatgib wrote: post #5

Article that deform the reality to be more clickbaity. Yes it is forbidden to eat 'at your desk', for obvious sanitary reasons, but I never seen it enforced. But it is ok to eat in the workplace. More than that, company are supposed to provide a dedicated 'break' space with tap water access. The root of the sanitary reason is obvious, you just have to see the regulation about restaurant and food serving places in Fra…

What is the obvious reason, for it escapes me?

Re: Eating at your desk is banned in France

#20

Post by ad404b8a372f2b9 »

A very à propos clip from a french TV-show about the cultural differences between France and the U.S wrt lunch: https://youtu.be/EAyQfctnWqw?t=93

Not at all surprised to see people here framing a law supporting workers' rights as an infringement on personal liberties. Comparing the work cultures of both countries, it's clear Americans will defend their personal liberties right into servitude.

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