The thing you have to be careful about is artificially creating this kind of bonding. If a company gives you opportunity to bond with your colleagues, that's a great thing. However, some people feel as though a team just isn't a team unless they're eating lunch every day together and everybody loves everyone's company enough to do so.
Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
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Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#12Its not that I don't want to hang out with my colleagues during my lunch hours, I just have too much other stuff to do like running errands, paying bills, etc. However, I made an effort to have a coffee break or such with my colleagues when they have them. I think that is a good compromise for me.
Furthermore, I rather spend the time I have at home with my family rather than doing the mundane stuff that I can during my lunch break.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#13My team cooks our own lunch in our office kitchen almost every day. We take turns in the kitchen duty. Today was my turn, whipped up some salad with halloumi and a little bratwurst in the grill. I very much enjoy our lunch hours, gives a chance to not talk about work with your teammates. Looking forward for tomorrow, there's this season's new potatoes (a local seasonal delicacy!) with some salmon on the menu and I do…
Does your team list cooking skills as a requirement to be hired? It would seem difficult to ensure that there's a good lunch to be had everyday otherwise.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#14I enjoy eating alone - because I can listen to podcasts, catch up on life TODOs, or squeeze in some exercise. I also don't like to be subjected to forced meal decisions. Some days I want a light salad type meal. Some winter days I may be a little down and treat myself to a burger and fries. I'm glad I work at a place that doesn't judge me for disappearing at lunch time.
It sounds like Google, at least at their main campus, has a sufficiently wide variety of choices.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#15Not vacationing with your team every holiday? You're missing out.
Not living with your coworkers? You're missing out.
And so on. The atmosphere described in this article seems stifling, almost like a religious service. That doesn't sound like a good way to foster spontaneous interactions. As others have commented, provide an optional lunch that is not mandated, isn't expected, and where people who don't participate are not ostracized. Then get out of the way.
The only exception I can see is for smaller teams where, for planning purposes, indicating that you'll participate would help with ordering the right amount/type of food.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#16I think that making it possible, and encouraging it, is great. Just don't make people feel bad if they decide to spend their lunch time dealing with groceries, paying bills, or going for a walk in the sun.
I've never worked in a close-knit place like where I've seen these type of lunches described (the article, Fog Creek, etc), but it seems like it works very well for them. "Everyone eats lunch together" obviously doesn't scale very well - at some point it becomes just "free food" like Google.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#17Lunch is my quiet time, I don't want to talk work all day long. I may still think about it, or even be working while I eat but I don't need a forced one hour meeting every day to be good at my job.
I think the point was that it wasn't additional "work", but time to find additional common ground among employees. I've been on both sides of the table, and I greatly prefer eating with my team, but it also assumes you like being around them on your on time ;)
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#18I think that making it possible, and encouraging it, is great. Just don't make people feel bad if they decide to spend their lunch time dealing with groceries, paying bills, or going for a walk in the sun.
Exactly. An expectation to perform during personal time is not what the introverts on your team need.
Introverted or not, being able to sit down and converse with your teammates is important. I wouldn't want to work with someone who either couldn't or didn't feel it important to do so.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#19Earlier quoted context omitted.
Exactly. An expectation to perform during personal time is not what the introverts on your team need.
Introverted or not, being able to sit down and converse with your teammates is important. I wouldn't want to work with someone who either couldn't or didn't feel it important to do so.
That's what meetings are for, right? Or even just the ability to walk to someone's office/cube/desk, and talk to them about important things. You can establish a culture of communication within a team that doesn't intrude on personal time.
Re: Not eating lunch with your team every day? You're missing out.
#20One thing to remember - it is a 1 hour break, not a 25-30 min lunch break. Just eating is not sufficient for the brain. You also need to take a walk, breath a fresh air, etc... You should just forget the office for a 1 hour.