Taking a Break: Two Diary Studies on Lunch Break Recovery During Telework and On-Site Days

Lunch breaks are essential for maintaining employee health and performance. This research examined whether telework days, compared to on-site days, are associated with differences in lunch break activities and subsequent energy levels. We hypothesized that on telework days employees engage in more relaxing and high-duty activities but fewer social lunch break activities, and that these activities mediate the relationship between work location and energy. We conducted two diary studies with 80 employees ( N = 369 days) and 126 employees ( N = 322 days). Multilevel path analyses revealed that on telework days, employees engaged in more high-duty, fewer social, and (only in Study 1) more relaxing lunch break activities. Social lunch break activities were unrelated to energy, whereas relaxing activities were consistently associated with higher energy. High-duty activities were positively related to energy in Study 1. Overall, findings highlight the influence of work location on lunch break behavior and employee energy.