The key to restorative lunch breaks is freedom and choice

Working through lunch might not be as bad as they say, suggests a new paper on work recovery, but only if employees choose that themselves, and don't feel pressured into it. "We found that a critical element was having the freedom to choose whether to do it or not," says John Trugakos, who is an associate professor in the Department of Management at the University of Toronto Scarborough, and holds a cross-appointment to the Rotman School of Management. "The autonomy aspect helps to offset what we had traditionally thought was not a good way to spend break time...