Skipping lunch may clear a path to employee burnout

Employees who don’t take lunch breaks run the risk of burning out, according to one expert chiming in on a recent study that revealed half of workers skip this midday break.

The study also found that the average lunch break lasts 39 minutes, down from 43 minutes in 2014, according to a researcher with Menlo Park, California-based OfficeTeam, a staffing agency.

CBS News, reporting on the study, sought commentary from Ravi Kudesia, a professor of human resources management at Temple University in Philadelphia.

Americans “wear our busyness as a badge of honor, and we kind of also like to be seen as the person working right by their computer,” she told CBS, adding that the downside is overworked employees. The upside? More productive workers.

"On the negative side, it leads to burnout, so there's this double-edge sword,” Ms. Kudesia said. “I’m going to perform better, but I might be coming home at the end of the day depleted.”