Claire Morris, marketing director at Sodexo, said that not only was this a concern, but the Sodexo Lunch at Work Report, launched in conjunction with Allegra Strategies, also revealed that an increasing number of workers, one in 10, were skipping lunch at least once a week.
"This is having a detrimental impact on companies’ productivity as 60% of staff when surveyed admitted that they were less productive as a result."
The top five main reasons given for skipping lunch are: too busy with work; not hungry, too many personal tasks; to save time and leave early and to save money.
The survey also revealed that the average time spent at lunch is 29 minutes and the average spend is £2.21.
Around 50% regularly eat lunch at their desk and the majority of these employees, 87%, prefer a lighter lunch. Despite new initiatives such as calorie labelling, only around a third (33%) look at calorie content when considering healthier options.
The most popular lunch remains the packed lunch with a third of adults bringing their lunch to work three to four times a week.
Staff restaurants are the second most popular destination for lunch after supermarkets but 61% of those surveyed do not have access to a staff restaurant, probably because 97% of UK companies have fewer than 50 employees.
Good value for money was key for lunch purchasers, with 80% claiming this was very important or important, in their decision making process, yet the survey also revealed that three quarters of employees do not rate meal deals as important when deciding what to eat and drink at lunch. Only a third buy a meal deal regularly.
Added Morris: “Worker well-being is becoming a greater priority for employers. At Sodexo, we provide information for our staff, clients and customers to help them make more informed decisions about how to live a healthier lifestyle.
“We were very surprised that the survey revealed that only 18% said they were provided with healthy food in their staff restaurants as we believe this is very important."