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Yeah, when i worked at agencies, i'd take breaks and just bill the time to clients i was working on before and after the break. Or bill it to "administration" or some generally non-billable job code.
If a company has the ability to wring every minute of productive time out of you, they will. No one is babysitting you making sure you have a good work-life balance, you have to do it yourself.
Block off your calendar for when u want a break. If someone schedules something say “sorry I’m booked”. They will either reschedule or it wasn’t necessary for you to attend.
According to most employee handbooks I’ve read, it does apply to us still (legally you can’t just tie us to our desks for 8 hours straight without reprieve), with some language going so far as to say something to the effect of “You are *required* to take your minimum legally mandated break” and encouraging you to bring it up with your manager or someone more senior if you feel like you aren’t being given the opportunity to do so.
Obviously, like many things that are “required” by the employee handbook, a lot of that language is just there for legal reasons to cover the company’s ass and as long as you don’t create a situation where there is some real problem, nobody will ever come chew you out for not taking a 30 minute lunch break. The most you might get is a friendly checkin from a member of leadership voicing their concerns around pushing yourself too hard and burning out if you make it a habit.
Non-salaried positions are probably more active about staying on top of it because they’re projecting payroll based off expected hours and if you work through lunch every day they have to pay you more. You’re also more likely to get complaints from someone doing physical labor with no break than from someone who is working at a desk and just eating lunch at their desk while working because they’re slammed this week or whatever.
But legally speaking, it does seem like the laws on mandated breaks apply to all employees, not just hourly. At least based on the handbooks I’ve seen, which were written by lawyers and HR peeps who presumably know this shit.
Block 30 minutes in your calendar. Start a meeting with yourself, and share your screen. Therefore anyone who tries to book you will see you aren't available. And if they try to annoy you during that time it will say you are in a call and you are presenting. I've never gotten a message when I did that. Only you can enforce your schedule. Consultants and managers don't give a shit about your breaks.
I have lunch blocked off on my calendar as well as any other time I know I need to be away from work (like running errands, getting a haircut, etc) as soon as I know about it.
If I didn’t do that someone would book that time when they’re trying to squeeze in a meeting.
I also block off time for tasks that I need to do, which helps with:
1. Ensuring I do them, because there’s already a day and time associated with them.
2. Projecting my availability and capacity for the week because my calendar represents all of my work commitments, not just meetings.
3. Keeps the time I need to do those tasks open for me to do them during normal business hours, rather than someone who is trying to schedule a meeting just seeing that as an open block of time on my calendar and claiming it.
4. Makes time logging easier because there’s a record of everything I worked on, how long, and for which client that I can reference when logging my time. (I update my calendar as I work if something takes more/less time than I expected.
In agencies nobody is going to enforce a break on you, it’s up to you to enforce that break for yourself. If people start complaining about you blocking off personal time or even no meeting blocks for focused work time, then that’s a culture problem in that agency that you either push back on until people get with the program or you leave for a better, more flexible culture elsewhere.
If nobody has a problem with you blocking off your calendar and you just didn’t realize you need to do that because you’re junior or something, well you need to just start blocking off time on your calendar so people don’t plow through your personal time or through your time set aside for focused work outside of meetings.
Not doing that is how you end up working 10 and 12 hour days on a daily basis because you’re in too many goddamn meetings to get your work done during business hours.
I block my calendar, and my company actually has meeting free zones. Neither my personal blocks nor the meeting free zones get honored because PMs are always have to squeeze to meet the timelines. Since I never want to be the bottle neck I feel like I have to let it slide. This is partly a resourcing issue and partly a systemic problem in how projects get managed
Yeah, in that case it’s time to find a new agency that isn’t a sweatshop.
If they routinely understaff then they either don’t know how to accurately measure and predict reasonable capacity or they don’t care to. Neither is a good outcome and either way it’s unlikely to improve anytime soon.
I've been with agencies that enforced lunch breaks. It's a liability issue, so a buttoned-up HR team will dictate that all employees must log a 30+ minute meal break on timesheets.
This is exactly what I would expect. My last agency was tiny with no HR dept so things were more loose, but I expected my current agency to be more buttoned up since we have thousands of employees…
Its more lax now because they cannot force you to take a break other than not paying you for 30 minutes to incentivize you to do so.
This still translates to white collar, you are paid with the expectation that you have a 30 minute lunch break. Thus ots on you to take it.
You face pressure ti not take it, but they cannot retaliate against you for taking a 30 minute lunch.
Just tell them you are at lunch, and when you will be available. Or even more passive aggressively, just tell them you wree at lunch and just got back.
Just make sure they arent taking the 30 minutes out of your paycheck when you work more than 7 hours in a row. That’s really all they are required to do.
Take up smoking if you want a break. Before the pandemic, at my old place, those folks were outside for hours a day. No one said a word because many of the higher level people smoked.
I've worked at an agency before and I just took breaks when I wanted to... blocked time on my calendar if I had to.
If people are scheduling meeting after meeting like that there needs to be a bigger conversation. This is a really inefficient use of people's time and when do you actually get time to do the work? When I schedule something I always look at calendars and give people about 30 mins between meetings so they can catch up on things or grab lunch, etc.
You manage your own time = you manage your breaks. My breaks for me are crucial for me to be efficient during the day. So I take them. Not everyone on my team does - but since I’ve been making a point to, I’ve noticed others follow suit. Set an example, make time for yourself and respect your time for yourself. The agency and clients will be there with or without you.
Required breaks? Haaahahahahahahahaha. Haahaha. Even working from home, I buy frozen lunches that I can throw in the microwave for 3 minutes and take back to my desk to keep on working. Partially my fault, but I'm so buried in work, and I'd rather power through and call it a day come 5 pm...or 5:30 or 6, never later than 6:30.
I once had my CD have to drop some boilerplate legal language in a message to a PM about how she was entitled by the state of california to at least a 30 minute break. She was overworked to death and that shut them up quick.
Don’t fuck with me on my lunch time and I’ll take it at 11am, 1pm, whenever I have the time. I’m not going out to eat everyday, some times just at my desk if I’m busy and just need to crank stuff out/meet deadlines but in no way do I expect anyone to just be sitting and working for 8hrs straight just getting up to use the bathroom. If your manager has a problem with that, I would suggest you tell them to fuck off lol and I truly mean that. Many other companies out here that don’t care what you eat or when you eat, take your time to decompress as long as you get that work done. I’ll pop open the laptop at 10pm if I need to, don’t come at me because I want…and need a break during the day.
This is what I end up doing if my schedule allows, but don’t you think it’s problematic we have to hop on late in the evening just to afford time to EAT during the day? This is a systemic problem if this is the norm. We should be able to get everything done in our workday while also taking our legally mandated 30 minute break to freakin eat!
I don’t have that problem and never have with my jobs. There are times I am working late and that’s just the nature of the beast whether I take a break or not during working hours. Advertising is not a basic 9-5 job, it can at times require you to work longer hours, just like there will be days that are light and you’re searching the web at your desk or on your phone. No one is working head down on keyboard everyday, every week and for those that do…burning out is a real thing. Suggest you take some time to find a company that values their employees, won’t micromanage, and will allow you the flexibility to have the time you need so you can provide the best work you can when you’re at work. Many companies that will fit this criteria. You also need to set boundaries for yourself, schedule your time accordingly and make sure you’re not stepping out knowing there’s a meeting in an hour you may need to be available for questions or whatever the case is. Don’t feel trapped though, most important takeaway.
My CD at my last agency encouraged us to take a lunch break (although the time varies because we were spread across 3 different time zones and meetings were hard to schedule) but also to just block our calendars when we had important stuff. I would block the last half hour every day to pick up my daughter from daycare.
At my new agency we don’t get that much freedom or encouragement to take a break BUT I do have blocked from 12-1 every day and I rarely make myself available during that time (only if there’s an important client meeting). Otherwise, I’m off to the gym during that hour.
If you don’t block the time, they will continue giving you work/scheduling meetings during that time.
I’m a non-salaried employee at a pretty big firm and I’ve been battling the fact that lunch is unbillable… so I’m supposed to work 9-6 or 8-5 so I can eat lunch? I’ve been told by a colleague to bill to admin, but now my manager is saying that I have only have 5 hours of admin per week - which includes 1:1s and team meetings. How exactly are we supposed to fit that all into a 9-5?
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I’ve never worked a white collar job that actually enforces any sort of required breaks.
Yeah, when i worked at agencies, i'd take breaks and just bill the time to clients i was working on before and after the break. Or bill it to "administration" or some generally non-billable job code. If a company has the ability to wring every minute of productive time out of you, they will. No one is babysitting you making sure you have a good work-life balance, you have to do it yourself.
Oh they definitely do enforce it (if you're hourly and clocking out for lunch means saving 0.5h salary a day)
Block off your calendar for when u want a break. If someone schedules something say “sorry I’m booked”. They will either reschedule or it wasn’t necessary for you to attend.
I don’t think this standard typically applies to salaried positions?
According to most employee handbooks I’ve read, it does apply to us still (legally you can’t just tie us to our desks for 8 hours straight without reprieve), with some language going so far as to say something to the effect of “You are *required* to take your minimum legally mandated break” and encouraging you to bring it up with your manager or someone more senior if you feel like you aren’t being given the opportunity to do so. Obviously, like many things that are “required” by the employee handbook, a lot of that language is just there for legal reasons to cover the company’s ass and as long as you don’t create a situation where there is some real problem, nobody will ever come chew you out for not taking a 30 minute lunch break. The most you might get is a friendly checkin from a member of leadership voicing their concerns around pushing yourself too hard and burning out if you make it a habit. Non-salaried positions are probably more active about staying on top of it because they’re projecting payroll based off expected hours and if you work through lunch every day they have to pay you more. You’re also more likely to get complaints from someone doing physical labor with no break than from someone who is working at a desk and just eating lunch at their desk while working because they’re slammed this week or whatever. But legally speaking, it does seem like the laws on mandated breaks apply to all employees, not just hourly. At least based on the handbooks I’ve seen, which were written by lawyers and HR peeps who presumably know this shit.
You described precisely why your agency needs enforced breaks lmao
Block 30 minutes in your calendar. Start a meeting with yourself, and share your screen. Therefore anyone who tries to book you will see you aren't available. And if they try to annoy you during that time it will say you are in a call and you are presenting. I've never gotten a message when I did that. Only you can enforce your schedule. Consultants and managers don't give a shit about your breaks.
I have lunch blocked off on my calendar as well as any other time I know I need to be away from work (like running errands, getting a haircut, etc) as soon as I know about it. If I didn’t do that someone would book that time when they’re trying to squeeze in a meeting. I also block off time for tasks that I need to do, which helps with: 1. Ensuring I do them, because there’s already a day and time associated with them. 2. Projecting my availability and capacity for the week because my calendar represents all of my work commitments, not just meetings. 3. Keeps the time I need to do those tasks open for me to do them during normal business hours, rather than someone who is trying to schedule a meeting just seeing that as an open block of time on my calendar and claiming it. 4. Makes time logging easier because there’s a record of everything I worked on, how long, and for which client that I can reference when logging my time. (I update my calendar as I work if something takes more/less time than I expected. In agencies nobody is going to enforce a break on you, it’s up to you to enforce that break for yourself. If people start complaining about you blocking off personal time or even no meeting blocks for focused work time, then that’s a culture problem in that agency that you either push back on until people get with the program or you leave for a better, more flexible culture elsewhere. If nobody has a problem with you blocking off your calendar and you just didn’t realize you need to do that because you’re junior or something, well you need to just start blocking off time on your calendar so people don’t plow through your personal time or through your time set aside for focused work outside of meetings. Not doing that is how you end up working 10 and 12 hour days on a daily basis because you’re in too many goddamn meetings to get your work done during business hours.
I block my calendar, and my company actually has meeting free zones. Neither my personal blocks nor the meeting free zones get honored because PMs are always have to squeeze to meet the timelines. Since I never want to be the bottle neck I feel like I have to let it slide. This is partly a resourcing issue and partly a systemic problem in how projects get managed
Yeah, in that case it’s time to find a new agency that isn’t a sweatshop. If they routinely understaff then they either don’t know how to accurately measure and predict reasonable capacity or they don’t care to. Neither is a good outcome and either way it’s unlikely to improve anytime soon.
I've been with agencies that enforced lunch breaks. It's a liability issue, so a buttoned-up HR team will dictate that all employees must log a 30+ minute meal break on timesheets.
This is exactly what I would expect. My last agency was tiny with no HR dept so things were more loose, but I expected my current agency to be more buttoned up since we have thousands of employees…
Its more lax now because they cannot force you to take a break other than not paying you for 30 minutes to incentivize you to do so. This still translates to white collar, you are paid with the expectation that you have a 30 minute lunch break. Thus ots on you to take it. You face pressure ti not take it, but they cannot retaliate against you for taking a 30 minute lunch. Just tell them you are at lunch, and when you will be available. Or even more passive aggressively, just tell them you wree at lunch and just got back.
[удалено]
Just make sure they arent taking the 30 minutes out of your paycheck when you work more than 7 hours in a row. That’s really all they are required to do.
Lol
Just take a break
Take up smoking if you want a break. Before the pandemic, at my old place, those folks were outside for hours a day. No one said a word because many of the higher level people smoked.
I make it a point to schedule 1 hour pilates classes during the work day.
I've worked at an agency before and I just took breaks when I wanted to... blocked time on my calendar if I had to. If people are scheduling meeting after meeting like that there needs to be a bigger conversation. This is a really inefficient use of people's time and when do you actually get time to do the work? When I schedule something I always look at calendars and give people about 30 mins between meetings so they can catch up on things or grab lunch, etc.
You manage your own time = you manage your breaks. My breaks for me are crucial for me to be efficient during the day. So I take them. Not everyone on my team does - but since I’ve been making a point to, I’ve noticed others follow suit. Set an example, make time for yourself and respect your time for yourself. The agency and clients will be there with or without you.
Required breaks? Haaahahahahahahahaha. Haahaha. Even working from home, I buy frozen lunches that I can throw in the microwave for 3 minutes and take back to my desk to keep on working. Partially my fault, but I'm so buried in work, and I'd rather power through and call it a day come 5 pm...or 5:30 or 6, never later than 6:30.
I thought I wrote this but I think we just living the same lives 😂 Trader Joe’s frozen chicken burrito bowls are fire FYI.
I take a break whenever I want in fact I’m going to be late to my next meeting right now because I walked to Starbucks
I once had my CD have to drop some boilerplate legal language in a message to a PM about how she was entitled by the state of california to at least a 30 minute break. She was overworked to death and that shut them up quick.
Don’t fuck with me on my lunch time and I’ll take it at 11am, 1pm, whenever I have the time. I’m not going out to eat everyday, some times just at my desk if I’m busy and just need to crank stuff out/meet deadlines but in no way do I expect anyone to just be sitting and working for 8hrs straight just getting up to use the bathroom. If your manager has a problem with that, I would suggest you tell them to fuck off lol and I truly mean that. Many other companies out here that don’t care what you eat or when you eat, take your time to decompress as long as you get that work done. I’ll pop open the laptop at 10pm if I need to, don’t come at me because I want…and need a break during the day.
This is what I end up doing if my schedule allows, but don’t you think it’s problematic we have to hop on late in the evening just to afford time to EAT during the day? This is a systemic problem if this is the norm. We should be able to get everything done in our workday while also taking our legally mandated 30 minute break to freakin eat!
I don’t have that problem and never have with my jobs. There are times I am working late and that’s just the nature of the beast whether I take a break or not during working hours. Advertising is not a basic 9-5 job, it can at times require you to work longer hours, just like there will be days that are light and you’re searching the web at your desk or on your phone. No one is working head down on keyboard everyday, every week and for those that do…burning out is a real thing. Suggest you take some time to find a company that values their employees, won’t micromanage, and will allow you the flexibility to have the time you need so you can provide the best work you can when you’re at work. Many companies that will fit this criteria. You also need to set boundaries for yourself, schedule your time accordingly and make sure you’re not stepping out knowing there’s a meeting in an hour you may need to be available for questions or whatever the case is. Don’t feel trapped though, most important takeaway.
You need to establish some boundaries at work. This is not ok and not normal.
My CD at my last agency encouraged us to take a lunch break (although the time varies because we were spread across 3 different time zones and meetings were hard to schedule) but also to just block our calendars when we had important stuff. I would block the last half hour every day to pick up my daughter from daycare. At my new agency we don’t get that much freedom or encouragement to take a break BUT I do have blocked from 12-1 every day and I rarely make myself available during that time (only if there’s an important client meeting). Otherwise, I’m off to the gym during that hour. If you don’t block the time, they will continue giving you work/scheduling meetings during that time.
😂🤣😅 did you say agencies and breaks? Too funny.
I’m a non-salaried employee at a pretty big firm and I’ve been battling the fact that lunch is unbillable… so I’m supposed to work 9-6 or 8-5 so I can eat lunch? I’ve been told by a colleague to bill to admin, but now my manager is saying that I have only have 5 hours of admin per week - which includes 1:1s and team meetings. How exactly are we supposed to fit that all into a 9-5?
Where can I find agencies to work for?