I’m convinced anyone growing up in the early aughts had an unusually high exposure to the concept of ‘desk lunch.’ From How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days to The Devil Wears Prada, the media portrayed protagonists as hardworking and far too busy to take a meal break. Sometimes Hollywood made it look so glamorous, who doesn’t remember Kate Hudson and friends laughing in their cubicles with takeout?
As it turns out, eating lunch with coworkers has benefits beyond the joy of midday chat. I was recently introduced to the book “Never Eat Alone” by Keith Ferrazzi and Tahl Raz, which dives into the mindset, skill set, and actions that make social lunches worthwhile. This book taught me the compounding benefits of eating lunch with others, which inspired me to explore how this lifestyle change can affect daily life.
The importance of reciprocity
Something from this book that resonated with me was the idea that no one goes through life alone. When talking about careers, it’s easy for each of us to focus on our own journey, and as students, I think we fall into this cycle too often.
I remember some of my friends in undergrad spending hours each week reaching out to contacts on LinkedIn, hoping to transform cold direct messages into interviews. This common advice for students is among the least effective networking methods, since research shows that professional networking works best for career development when individuals engage in mutually beneficial exchanges. Shifting away from a self-interested approach toward a reciprocal relationship will lead to more meaningful networking connections in which both people can benefit from the interaction.
Eating lunch with a coworker is a great way to put this idea into practice, since your shared company context lays the groundwork for productive exchange. Additionally, you may find yourself able to build your network outside your current department, because individuals with different specialties will likely have more to learn from one another due to differing responsibilities.
Try this for yourself! I recommend inviting lateral coworkers from other departments to grab lunch together–you might learn some surprising things about the place you work!
The downsides of desktop dining
If expanding your network isn’t a compelling enough reason to make your lunch social, how about your health?
For many workers, the lunch break represents a limited daily time allowance that one may spend unbothered. One 2024 study of British office workers revealed that 82% of respondents ate lunch alone at their desks during the week. This time is often referred to as a chance to recharge and refuel, but it is rarely used that way due to the rise of snacking and scrolling.
Desktop dining leads to higher caloric intake due to increased snacking. Multitasking individuals often consume content on a screen while eating, creating no clear boundaries between work and mealtime. This perpetuates a cycle of distracted eating, which reinforces mindless habits and encourages greater volume of overall consumption.
So, if you’ve ever thought about inviting a coworker to take lunch away from your workstations, here’s your sign to try it! Your body will thank you.
The power in sharing a meal
It can be daunting to invite others out to lunch, but the effort is well worth it.
Establishing lunchtime as a ritual among coworkers is directly tied to better-performing teams. Researchers have found that shared experiences among teams enhance how meaningful employees perceive their work to be, and when teams perceive their work as more meaningful, they are overall more motivated, happier, and more productive.
If you want to become the trendsetter in your workplace, here are a few tips to integrate communal lunches into your week:
- Ditch your desk – The first step is to minimize time spent desktop dining. If you have a lunch area in your building, start the trend of sitting there even if no one else is around.
- Start small – You might not convince your entire department to join you for lunch, but you can always start by asking a few people on your team or coworkers in similar areas if you’d like to get to know them better.
- Consistency is key – Making lunch into a daily or weekly ritual will take time, but showing up is half the battle. If others see you sitting at the same table every day, they’re more likely to establish a new habit if it’s already part of someone else’s routine
If you usually eat solo, I hope this inspires you to grab lunch with someone new this week!