A national health and safety law consultancy has found that the convenience of ready-made sandwiches as well as office rules about eating at desks mean that fewer employees than ever are bothering to bring their own food to work with them.
Only 5% of workers brought in a packed lunch from home, with 14% using the staff canteen, 13% visiting a fast food establishment, 16% buying sandwiches from a shop, and 9% going to the pub.
Perhaps, most shockingly, one in five workers (21%) said they didn’t have any lunch at all and 22% eat sweets and crisps from the vending machine.
Mark Hall, of protecting.co.uk, said: “It’s well known that worker productivity is linked to both decent breakfasts and lunches, and it appears that thanks to so-called convenient foods, fewer employees are eating properly.
“The number of people who have a proper meal during their working day is depressingly low and we’re shocked at the number of folk who go without something to eat at all.
“We don’t have to be Jamie Oliver to point out that junk food leads to all kinds of illnesses in the long run, while companies can’t press their workers into what kind of lunch they eat, they could try out a healthy eating campaign to encourage better nutrition.
“To go without lunch, or to fill yourself with junk food shouldn’t be an option in a healthy workplace. It’s time the lunchbox made a comeback. Make the effort, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”