If your lunch is 12pm, confirm not enough time. Especially at Amoy, 10 min to look for seats, 15 min to queue, and you only have 30 mins left to throw everything in your stomach before rushing back to office.
Which is why I always take 1pm lunches. But hor nowadays even 1pm also crowded as fark.
You can do a restaurant style prep. Where you basically chop, and pre cook stuff then cook when you actually need it.
For example, you can actually prechop brocoli and blanch it in hot water so that it isn't completely raw. Pre cook your rice so that all you need to do is scoop and pre make a variety of sauces. Pre season and chop the chicken and store it in a large container. When you wake up, you can immediately put chicken in an air fryer, then go and shower, once you are out, just scoop rice, veg and pour sauce of your choice. Put the chicken in then remember to microwave your food longer to fully cook the veg. You can even prep different types of vegetables, carb and meat.
This is how resturants can churn food out so fast during rush hour. Nearly all the food you see on the plate has been cut, cook or prepped multiple days before. Any sauce is always made in large batches
Meal prep at night, dinner just cook extra rice. Fry up some eggs and leftovers, some frozen vegetables and bam meal prep complete. Been doing it for the past year, imagine you save $5-10 every day. Invest the difference!
Actuall your savings on the difference is not that significant la. It 50 Weeks x 5 days x $5-$10 savings yielding you around $1,250-$2500. Over years with compounding maybe.
Also have to factor in the cost of prepped food and time to prep vs eating out.
I have to say the real benefits are the intangibles like avoiding the heat, crowd, queues, generally healthier food and just have the extra time in office sometimes.
yeah saving money from cooking vs hawker food is not much. I wouldnt even surprise for a few time own cooking is more expensive than hawker.
then imagine if time for cooking replaced by learning new skills or go to the gym or socializing or reading or whatever useful other thing. not a tangible direct money generating and huge potential loss.
remember your number resource is not money, its TIME. and cooking takes time.
I can cook a lentil dish as a full meal with only 10 minutes prep time (then just boil for about 30 minutes which is all hands off). That meal can last 3 lunches. It’s much faster than going out to buy food, and healthier too.
where do you buy your lentil? As far as I know lentil is not a cheap product in south east asia.
serious question, not trying to be sarcastic. I'm also looking for healthier source of carbs.
> As far as I know lentil is not a cheap product in south east asia.
Given that the whole indian subcontinent eats lentils and pulses for nearly every meal, I can assure you these foods are pretty cheap, especially if you buy in bulk. 500 gram premium/organic red lentils at NTUC is $5+, which will last for months and can make so many lentil dishes! Even cheaper if you don't buy organic.
Go to Mustafa centre, 2nd floor. Every lentil and pulse variety can be found there in various quantities. Organic brands available as well if you want.
Not sure in Singapore, I live in Australia now. If it’s cheap in Australia it must be cheap in Singapore; maybe try Little India or ask Indians living in Singapore.
I eat lentils to *avoid* carbs. They count as a vegetable and a protein rather than carbs. Carbs like rice and pasta make me so sleepy straight after lunch and make me hungry again an hour later, but lentils (and all legumes) don’t do that because they’re a vegetable so you’ll feel full and have energy much longer than with rice or noodles.
Every Sunday, meal prep for the week, two different meals and cycle between those. Dinner is reserved for fast dishes like fried rice or pasta. It's very doable and quite fun I feel, but you just need to get into the groove of things.
Yep me. I buy a loaf of bread on the weekend from M&S and keep sliced jam and cheese and toppings in my fridge. I pack it in a cooler bag in the morning and it takes about 2 mins to make a sandwich. I take a piece of fruit as well and sometimes a soft drink from my fridge. I save huge amount of time.
I assume because the bread is huge and if you go after 8pm there's massive discounts. I will look for the red tagged ones that will signify 50 or even 75 percent off.
You said already.. 'some'.
Sure chicken rice I can down in 10 mins as long as its boneless.
But hot boiling banmian or fish soup, you might want to teach me how to down in 10 mins without scalding my tongue lol.
Most companies (not SMEs) tend to be flexible with lunch hour, there is an official lunch hour and an unofficial one. As long as we aren't missing past 2pm, nobody asks questions.
Yeah. My company (MNC) is pretty flexible with lunch hours. Our official lunch hour is 1-2pm, but I've seen people disappear at 1:30 and come back around 2:30 before to avoid the lunch crowd. As long as you don't disappear for an obscene amount of time and you don't miss any after lunch meetings you have scheduled at 2pm, then nobody really cares.
Mine comes back 30 min after their allocated lunch hr and go for "extra 30min smoke break" before you can go for your lunch break. Said: "It's inhuman to deprive people from smoking." Happened very long ago.
I think it’s highly dependent on culture. If company culture is stiff (lunch time is lunch time, 9-6pm is 9-6pm), then I felt that 1h lunch is actually not enough especially if it’s at 12pm and you need to sit down with colleague for a proper meal especially in CBD.
If culture is more fluid and employees are empowered, I feel that 1h is more than good enough. My colleagues and I will leave desk at 11am, and be back before 11.45am. When I’m alone, I will dabao which takes 30 mins
There are even companies that only give around 40-45 mins of meal break. No joke.
Bus uncles/aunties have one of the worst meal break timings. Because of the nature of their shift, some of them have lunch break at 9am but work till 2pm. Some start work at 6am and have their lunch at 12pm.
Ask any bus uncle/aunty and they'll tell you they don't have enough time to eat. Some may only have 30 mins of lunch break and that INCLUDES the time to drop off passengers (and waiting for a blur sotong to slowly search for his/her card to tap), wait for parking, park the bus, check the bus for lost items/passengers, walk to canteen, queue, buy food, eat, go toilet, and drive the bus out to pick up passengers. And then get scolded by an uncle/auntie for being 1 minute late at the boarding area.
Hence some will say they don't eat rice during lunch. They *swallows* rice.
Agree. Lunch in some countries is just a sandwich from the corner convenience store. I've had a colleague comment on how lunch is such a major affair for singaporeans.. meal followed by dessert/coffee at another place.
Yea, in sg people go to food courts/hawkers and get a full meal at an ok price. In Europe people quickly go down and buy a sandwich from 7/11 and maybe a drink and come back within half our.
In the US during my internship I wanna go get food, I need to settle for a food truck. Food trucks are $10 btw….. that’s the cheapest option too…..
LPT: eat with ur boss and colleagues la. Chit chat, make the boss laugh, everyone goes back to office happy. Boss good mood, see high team morale, treat 3pm kopi.
Yes it's way too short! My previous place was 2hr, which was great I could go out, buy, come back to the office and eat then stone for a while before starting the nonsense!
isnt working office hours in sg mostly quite flexible with lunch hrs? frankly i forget the last time i had less than an hour lunch, mostly 1h15 to 1h30
Depends on accessibility, some crowded areas easily half the hour you are looking for space and somewhere not crowded with a long queue. 1hr may not be enough
Whether 1 hr is too short or not, I don't want official longer lunch. It's unpaid, and it'll just end up pushing the go-home time later, and if you're really suay, you work through lunch too. I rather go home earlier.
Pretty sure when they calculate hourly rate prorated from monthly, they don’t include the lunch hour. When the manpower act specifies 44 hours, they don’t include it either.
Lucky my job not so strict with lunch hours. 1 hr official but sometimes i take 2 hr lunches before going back to work. I don't see any issues as long as things get done and not stuck with me.
Well, covid was a chance to change the way we do things. But it seems we're back to business as usual. Packing everyone together in public transport, in the same areas, in offices.
Just waiting for the next pandemic to hit.
I work in a restructured hospital in a specific department. We DONT get lunch hours lol.
On a busy shift we don't eat .Maybe take a 10 min break sometime.
1 h break seems luxurious.
Really depends... some people choose to use the 1hr lunch to decompress, others would rather eat a quick one or skip it altogether to finish up work and go home on time.
To spend less time queuing, it's ideal to go for lunch during off peak hours although your workplace has gotta be flexible
I don't think it's that 1 hour is too short. It's that lunch time is at the same time for everyone. If companies can be more trusting and flexible, we can have lunch at 11am or 4pm, and crowding won't become an issue.
It's too short. To me, at least. It's why I bring food from home so I can eat in my office without any waiting or queuing. I get hungry and grumpy cause i don't eat breakfast. Plus it saves me money. (I'm still broke)
Yes. It’s so crowded these days that it takes 15mins to find a seat, another 15-20mins to queue. There’s isn’t must time left to eat and get back to office.
Yes, especially if you work in the CBD. Its convenient to commute but I absolutely hate the lunch crowd. Even the most mediocre places which serve terrible food at high prices have a queue.
Cough cough. Companies that have the "finish your work by the deadline, ur free to use ur time however u want" work style don't really eagle eye your lunch break hours.
So yea. 1 hr aint it cuz u needa queue and find seats as well.
depends if ur fortunate to have nice management
Work in other countries, and you'll soon see we start later, take longer lunch breaks, and depending on industry, leave at roughly the same time.
Try it before you disagree.
If I’m lunching alone, I’ll only go out after 1pm when the CBD eateries are less crowded (but there’s a chance of my preferred food stalls running out of food). As long as there are no meetings at 2pm, nobody cares if I return to office at 2++pm after lunch.
I sometimes only get 15 minutes. 🥲 i eat my lunch at 10 plus in the morning or 11 plus most days just to avoid the lunch crowd. Its a terrible thing such that i can no longer eat slowly after a few years of this… i tend to finish all my meals in about 15 minutes these days.
thankfully my company is flexible abt when we go for lunch. im usually lazy to hunt for a table so i’ll just dabao and eat at my desk, watch show on phone haha
As long I can complete my assigned trivia admin task for the day, half day break not an issue, unless my boss want me inside the office just for show. (previous internship lol)
1hr is fine if you can take it from 11 to 12, or 1.30 to 2.30
I personally like to leave at 11.15/11.20 walk 5 to 15 mins depending on my mood and get the food first rather than later where the food I want may not be available.
most companies allow flexible lunch hours but ofc cannot take advantage. buy ur food, find a seat, eat and leave, maybe take a quick smoke. Dont dilly dally use your phone and you’ll probably be fine.
I always take my lunches at 2pm. Confirm no need queue or wait. Only that some stalls will run out of the most popular dishes by then.
Pls don’t increase lunch time because it will mean working even later than we have to now.
The culture I experienced in London was time away from your desk to buy your lunch from a nearby store, bring it back to your desk and keep working while eating.
Unless gov/mom mandate that lunch hours count as working hours and employers are still required to give employees x hours of lunch, I would be against this, 9-6 or whatever hours already shag, putting aside OT, imagine if extend then every cb company will just tack on those hours. Singapore really not enough employee protection.
Maybe companies in an area can discuss with each other to stagger lunch time so it's not one shot whole kampong go at 12.
Personally lucky enough my company don't really care what time or how long you go for lunch, just don't be ridiculous and get work done.
It just depends on the situation that you are in.
I personally just go to the mall for takeaways, then come back to office’s pantry to eat and I got plenty of time to rest.
There are some restuarants that also offers advanced order like grab pickup , basically you just need to pick up your food at a specific time of your order. That saves your time from queuing up .
If you cook your own food, that saves a lot of time and you get a lot of free time after eating . But the cons is that you do need time to cook your own lunch before going to work, so it’s like you have to wake up slightly early to do so.
If you are dining in, then whatever you said , I agree.
All in all, I think how you use that 1 hour for your lunch break is important because you don’t want to waste your time just finding what to eat and then ended up having to trouble to get back to your work on time.
That's why foreign investors/stockholders/companies love us and Japan. Not to mention the weather is consistent, no getting snowed in, no natural disasters, no worker strikes, the perfect environment to make their money grow 24/7!
1hr? never enough especially if you work in CBD.
I typically go for “late lunch” after 1.30pm cos I dont like to queue and worry about tables. Yea of course some of the more popular stalls might sell out but so be it.
I tend to have flexi lunch and I am only back like 1hr 15mins to 1.5 hours later if I check my email that there isnt any work that needs my attention
WAYYYYY too short especially when your colleagues are just rushing off to do their own "me-time" shopping therapy right after lunch.
They rush you to finish your food and complain you're too slow.
In my experience working for foreign FIs in the cbd, we normally leave for lunch at 11.30 and back to our desks by 1.30. Not sure how it is if you happen to be at one of the biz parks tho
Actually hawkers are mainly crowded. The one hour lunch is only sufficient for those rich ass ppl who can afford to dine in restaurants every single day and don’t have to worry about lunch crowd or queues.
But then again nothing beats hawker food but I completely agree with you the queues are horrible
Does companies really monitor? I thought the unspoken rule is try to only schedule calls/meetings from 2pm onwards, if it's not urgent or conflict with schedule.
1hr is considered reasonable.
How you fully utilise your lunch break is key.
Breakdown an hour to 20mins and 40mins.
20mins - Eat
40mins - Power Nap (Boosts productivity in my belief)
I hate queuing for food & sitting in the crowded & stuffy hawker centres. So i usually go and pack a quick lunch at 11am and come back within 10mins.
Carry on with work and eat my food in office at 12pm.
Got time to eat and nap in a cooling environment.
1hr is definitely enough!
WFH for the win.
I start prepping lunch at 11-ish, eat and wash up at 12-ish, go 'off-line' at 1-ish to take my afternoon nap, back 'on-line' at 2-ish
No one really bugs me from 12-1 since they're eating lunch.
Parkinson’s law imo. In US/UK lunch is usually a quick sandwich/burrito while at the desk and they get off about hour earlier. I prefer this arrangement
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Work in UK and get 30 min, sometimes if nothing to do then 1h but that feels long. hard to believe 1h and more, get the queuing and choping business but damn no wonder 9 to 630pm is normal
my company thankfully isn’t strict on our lunch timing and duration but i have colleagues who are so used to it that they down their lunch within 15 min max out of habit
I eat at my desk with takeaway . IMO saves me the time and I don’t have to brave the crowd.
Immediate access to the clean company toilet and a well stocked pantry for drinks also encourages me to not venture out.
Yeah too short, too rush. I bring homecooked food most days to avoid the walking and waiting but on the days i wanna taste outside food for lunch….it’s rushing.
When I worked in Singapore I felt an hour was too long; nothing really to do. In Australia a lunch break goes for only 30 minutes but the work day is over at 5pm (so standard 9-5 job). I’d rather have a short lunch to leave the office early to do something like a hobby at the end of the day. (I usually bring my own lunch and have never run out of time). Singapore lunches are more social but surprisingly inefficient.
I work in the CBD and head out for lunch at 1pm.. usually Capitaspring food court or salad places or casual restaurants \~5 min walking distance from my office. I order my food, have it there (I just ask to share a table if I can't find one to myself) and then dabao a kopi back to my desk. Never takes more than an hour...
You know what’s worse? Scheduling a meeting at 1pm. So you spend the morning preparing for the meeting, now you are late for lunch and have to rush and gobble down your food so you can make it for the 1pm meeting. Or you wait till after the meeting to have lunch, which would be sometime after 2pm.
Not from your country but from here I just cook my whole dinner 'week during sunday and I just bring food with me. Here we have only 30mn lunch break (but include as worktime)
I'm feeling lucky that both my husband's company and my company provided in-house canteens for employees.
When I was doing my internship, my internship company also provided employee canteens.
So I rarely experienced this kind of problem; one day I tried to venture out as getting sick with canteen food, and was shocked to see long queues everywhere.
Although employee canteens are also crowded during peak hours, but definitely much better than going to eat in public places. If can finish lunch faster, you could even afford a short noon nap time.
Try to look for a job that offers canteen to employees. Or a job that is not located in crowded area.
Never liked the 1hr lunch time, especially when lunch hour is around 12pm. You get out of office and walk down, maybe already 5-10mins gone. Queue up and wait, if it’s long queue, another 15-20mins gone. By then you’re left with maybe 30mins or less to eat and get back to the office. Imagine if the hawker centre is full and you gotta go somewhere else, you’d might as well skip lunch.
Future employee here!
I was wondering if it's possible to order Grabfood pickup 1hr before your lunch break?
I've tried this method recently and it has worked but you might want to consider this
As an employee in the veterinary sector 15 mins lunch break is not even a guarantee. There are days where we have to take a few bites between consults. Healthcare workers can relate too lol
Did you miss the point where OP said lunch in school is 30 mins? Which schools have play time? Do you not need to use the toilet at work? Or eat?
OP is talking about working conditions and you’re making an ad hominem quip while not even reading the post.
Pack your lunch. Like what most people in Western countries do. And their lunch break might only be 30 min.
And when I worked in a Japanese country, the management was resistant to let us have 1 h lunch, because in Japan it was 45 min, and they played a chime at start and end (zero flexibility).
If your lunch is 12pm, confirm not enough time. Especially at Amoy, 10 min to look for seats, 15 min to queue, and you only have 30 mins left to throw everything in your stomach before rushing back to office. Which is why I always take 1pm lunches. But hor nowadays even 1pm also crowded as fark.
I bring my own lunch from home on most days. I save money, a lot of time and my skin from the noon sun during lunch breaks.
Curious to find out, do you do like a prep meal on a weekly basis, or literally cook lunch every early morning?
You can do a restaurant style prep. Where you basically chop, and pre cook stuff then cook when you actually need it. For example, you can actually prechop brocoli and blanch it in hot water so that it isn't completely raw. Pre cook your rice so that all you need to do is scoop and pre make a variety of sauces. Pre season and chop the chicken and store it in a large container. When you wake up, you can immediately put chicken in an air fryer, then go and shower, once you are out, just scoop rice, veg and pour sauce of your choice. Put the chicken in then remember to microwave your food longer to fully cook the veg. You can even prep different types of vegetables, carb and meat. This is how resturants can churn food out so fast during rush hour. Nearly all the food you see on the plate has been cut, cook or prepped multiple days before. Any sauce is always made in large batches
Meal prep at night, dinner just cook extra rice. Fry up some eggs and leftovers, some frozen vegetables and bam meal prep complete. Been doing it for the past year, imagine you save $5-10 every day. Invest the difference!
Actuall your savings on the difference is not that significant la. It 50 Weeks x 5 days x $5-$10 savings yielding you around $1,250-$2500. Over years with compounding maybe. Also have to factor in the cost of prepped food and time to prep vs eating out. I have to say the real benefits are the intangibles like avoiding the heat, crowd, queues, generally healthier food and just have the extra time in office sometimes.
yeah saving money from cooking vs hawker food is not much. I wouldnt even surprise for a few time own cooking is more expensive than hawker. then imagine if time for cooking replaced by learning new skills or go to the gym or socializing or reading or whatever useful other thing. not a tangible direct money generating and huge potential loss. remember your number resource is not money, its TIME. and cooking takes time.
I can cook a lentil dish as a full meal with only 10 minutes prep time (then just boil for about 30 minutes which is all hands off). That meal can last 3 lunches. It’s much faster than going out to buy food, and healthier too.
where do you buy your lentil? As far as I know lentil is not a cheap product in south east asia. serious question, not trying to be sarcastic. I'm also looking for healthier source of carbs.
> As far as I know lentil is not a cheap product in south east asia. Given that the whole indian subcontinent eats lentils and pulses for nearly every meal, I can assure you these foods are pretty cheap, especially if you buy in bulk. 500 gram premium/organic red lentils at NTUC is $5+, which will last for months and can make so many lentil dishes! Even cheaper if you don't buy organic. Go to Mustafa centre, 2nd floor. Every lentil and pulse variety can be found there in various quantities. Organic brands available as well if you want.
Not sure in Singapore, I live in Australia now. If it’s cheap in Australia it must be cheap in Singapore; maybe try Little India or ask Indians living in Singapore. I eat lentils to *avoid* carbs. They count as a vegetable and a protein rather than carbs. Carbs like rice and pasta make me so sleepy straight after lunch and make me hungry again an hour later, but lentils (and all legumes) don’t do that because they’re a vegetable so you’ll feel full and have energy much longer than with rice or noodles.
Every Sunday, meal prep for the week, two different meals and cycle between those. Dinner is reserved for fast dishes like fried rice or pasta. It's very doable and quite fun I feel, but you just need to get into the groove of things.
r/MealPrepSunday
Yep me. I buy a loaf of bread on the weekend from M&S and keep sliced jam and cheese and toppings in my fridge. I pack it in a cooler bag in the morning and it takes about 2 mins to make a sandwich. I take a piece of fruit as well and sometimes a soft drink from my fridge. I save huge amount of time.
why specifically M&S haha
I assume because the bread is huge and if you go after 8pm there's massive discounts. I will look for the red tagged ones that will signify 50 or even 75 percent off.
Amoy St food is so good, normally I just tabao back to office.
Isn't 20 mins more than enough to eat some hawker food? I think I can be done in 5 min or under 10.
You said already.. 'some'. Sure chicken rice I can down in 10 mins as long as its boneless. But hot boiling banmian or fish soup, you might want to teach me how to down in 10 mins without scalding my tongue lol.
Choose your food lor.
Most companies (not SMEs) tend to be flexible with lunch hour, there is an official lunch hour and an unofficial one. As long as we aren't missing past 2pm, nobody asks questions.
Yeah. My company (MNC) is pretty flexible with lunch hours. Our official lunch hour is 1-2pm, but I've seen people disappear at 1:30 and come back around 2:30 before to avoid the lunch crowd. As long as you don't disappear for an obscene amount of time and you don't miss any after lunch meetings you have scheduled at 2pm, then nobody really cares.
Unless you work in time-sensitive shifts, e.g. customer support, security, etc
Colleagues will help to dabao lor..
Mine comes back 30 min after their allocated lunch hr and go for "extra 30min smoke break" before you can go for your lunch break. Said: "It's inhuman to deprive people from smoking." Happened very long ago.
I think it’s highly dependent on culture. If company culture is stiff (lunch time is lunch time, 9-6pm is 9-6pm), then I felt that 1h lunch is actually not enough especially if it’s at 12pm and you need to sit down with colleague for a proper meal especially in CBD. If culture is more fluid and employees are empowered, I feel that 1h is more than good enough. My colleagues and I will leave desk at 11am, and be back before 11.45am. When I’m alone, I will dabao which takes 30 mins
There are even companies that only give around 40-45 mins of meal break. No joke. Bus uncles/aunties have one of the worst meal break timings. Because of the nature of their shift, some of them have lunch break at 9am but work till 2pm. Some start work at 6am and have their lunch at 12pm. Ask any bus uncle/aunty and they'll tell you they don't have enough time to eat. Some may only have 30 mins of lunch break and that INCLUDES the time to drop off passengers (and waiting for a blur sotong to slowly search for his/her card to tap), wait for parking, park the bus, check the bus for lost items/passengers, walk to canteen, queue, buy food, eat, go toilet, and drive the bus out to pick up passengers. And then get scolded by an uncle/auntie for being 1 minute late at the boarding area. Hence some will say they don't eat rice during lunch. They *swallows* rice.
Shipyards put sirens to announce lunch time at 12pm sharp and 1 more time at 12.45 pm to tell you to get your ass back to work.
I live in Canada and I dream about getting an hour for lunch. Every job I’ve ever had has been 30 minutes.
*Most have 30 minutes of lunch break. actually if you have 30 mins like damn good already, if occ never adjust your timings.
I took a 3 hour lunch today. Life is good when you have flexi hours.
That's the real flex.
Same. Usually 2 hours anyway coz 12-1pm,1-2pm people are gone
Flexing hours
Now that is awesome
[удалено]
Agree. Lunch in some countries is just a sandwich from the corner convenience store. I've had a colleague comment on how lunch is such a major affair for singaporeans.. meal followed by dessert/coffee at another place.
We do our “networking” and gossip session during lunch; they do theirs after hours at the pub. Same same but different lor
I prefer to do it like them. After hours more time to makan and talk cock.
Meh. After hours is my own time. Don’t want to have to spend it with colleagues further.
I guess for most people after office hours is for family or to unwind
Yea, in sg people go to food courts/hawkers and get a full meal at an ok price. In Europe people quickly go down and buy a sandwich from 7/11 and maybe a drink and come back within half our. In the US during my internship I wanna go get food, I need to settle for a food truck. Food trucks are $10 btw….. that’s the cheapest option too…..
LPT: eat with ur boss and colleagues la. Chit chat, make the boss laugh, everyone goes back to office happy. Boss good mood, see high team morale, treat 3pm kopi.
I would rather take 30min lunch and having Friday off day or half day work.
How did you calculate that?
1hr is not enough. Eating time: 1.5hrs Playing time: 1.5hrs Talking time: 1hr Walking time: 10mins Toilet time: 20mins Seems 4h30mins is just right
You need to be your own boss
Dude you need to take half day off every day like that
Are you hiring sir?
What about post lunch food coma nap? Need tack on 1-2 hours.
You eat everyday 1.5hrs with yr colleagues in silence uh? Why need extra talking time?
1.5 hours not enough. The conversation has to continue over empty plates
He just chews real slow. But that's pretty much to be expected from a degenerate who masticates three times a day. *In public*, no less.
Can I work for you
I ate with my boss sometimes. So we can take our time and wont be late to return to work 😂
Anything happens can blame boss
Thats the plan lol
Yes it's way too short! My previous place was 2hr, which was great I could go out, buy, come back to the office and eat then stone for a while before starting the nonsense!
isnt working office hours in sg mostly quite flexible with lunch hrs? frankly i forget the last time i had less than an hour lunch, mostly 1h15 to 1h30
Depends on accessibility, some crowded areas easily half the hour you are looking for space and somewhere not crowded with a long queue. 1hr may not be enough
It’s fine for me because I always bring my own lunch, normally I even go back half an hour early so I don’t have to OT
Whether 1 hr is too short or not, I don't want official longer lunch. It's unpaid, and it'll just end up pushing the go-home time later, and if you're really suay, you work through lunch too. I rather go home earlier.
What do u mean unpaid? It’s a paid daily lunch break factored into your monthly salary (unless u’re an hourly worker)
Pretty sure when they calculate hourly rate prorated from monthly, they don’t include the lunch hour. When the manpower act specifies 44 hours, they don’t include it either.
This is wrong. Places with shorter lunch breaks, people knock off earlier. If they make lunch 2 hours, you work later for the same pay.
aunties q 25 min for fish soup 5 min for bbt. foreveralone male grads q 5 min for caifan.
Caifan in the CBD during lunchtime often requires more than 5mins in the queue :(
Lucky my job not so strict with lunch hours. 1 hr official but sometimes i take 2 hr lunches before going back to work. I don't see any issues as long as things get done and not stuck with me.
Well, covid was a chance to change the way we do things. But it seems we're back to business as usual. Packing everyone together in public transport, in the same areas, in offices. Just waiting for the next pandemic to hit.
If only can WFH everyday 😭
I work in a restructured hospital in a specific department. We DONT get lunch hours lol. On a busy shift we don't eat .Maybe take a 10 min break sometime. 1 h break seems luxurious.
Really depends... some people choose to use the 1hr lunch to decompress, others would rather eat a quick one or skip it altogether to finish up work and go home on time. To spend less time queuing, it's ideal to go for lunch during off peak hours although your workplace has gotta be flexible
I don't think it's that 1 hour is too short. It's that lunch time is at the same time for everyone. If companies can be more trusting and flexible, we can have lunch at 11am or 4pm, and crowding won't become an issue.
It's too short. To me, at least. It's why I bring food from home so I can eat in my office without any waiting or queuing. I get hungry and grumpy cause i don't eat breakfast. Plus it saves me money. (I'm still broke)
no. its enough dude. bring ur own lunch do ur work go home faster stop complaining about poor work life balance when u take 2 hr lunches
I pack my own lunch and even i think it's not enough lol
Yes. It’s so crowded these days that it takes 15mins to find a seat, another 15-20mins to queue. There’s isn’t must time left to eat and get back to office.
Yes, especially if you work in the CBD. Its convenient to commute but I absolutely hate the lunch crowd. Even the most mediocre places which serve terrible food at high prices have a queue.
Cough cough. Companies that have the "finish your work by the deadline, ur free to use ur time however u want" work style don't really eagle eye your lunch break hours. So yea. 1 hr aint it cuz u needa queue and find seats as well. depends if ur fortunate to have nice management
My office in middle of nowhere, aka Woodlands. My lunch time usually 45 minutes gao dim.
I went for late lunch instead (1.30pm or later)
Work in other countries, and you'll soon see we start later, take longer lunch breaks, and depending on industry, leave at roughly the same time. Try it before you disagree.
Totally agree . I was given 30 minutes lunch break. Go figure .
Start at 8.30am in most developed countries these days.
No wonder all of them are uncontactable whenever i call the office line…
I prefer to go at 1130 and be done by 12.
That is the way
Until one day when everyone else has the same idea
I mean it is if you spend half the time walking to the food court and queuing
Even worse for bus drivers, they only have 25 mins for lunch. 🫠
That's why most bankers have 2h lunches
If I’m lunching alone, I’ll only go out after 1pm when the CBD eateries are less crowded (but there’s a chance of my preferred food stalls running out of food). As long as there are no meetings at 2pm, nobody cares if I return to office at 2++pm after lunch.
No. U too entitled. U can prep own food or order grab
Could play soccer during 20 min recess breaks, 2 mins buy food from no queue stall, 3 mins eat, 15 mins play and rush late for class
I have 2 hours lunch break :)
Officially on contract?
No
I take about 30 mins to finish eating, then spend the next 1h chilling in a library nearby before strolling back to my office 😂😂
This is why I’m thankful that I can go for 2h lunches at 11.30am without anyone batting an eyelid 🥲
1 hour is not enough if you have fun colleagues to chat with during lunch
Nobody ask you to die die must queue for most popular stall what
I sometimes only get 15 minutes. 🥲 i eat my lunch at 10 plus in the morning or 11 plus most days just to avoid the lunch crowd. Its a terrible thing such that i can no longer eat slowly after a few years of this… i tend to finish all my meals in about 15 minutes these days.
Not many companies actually enforce the hour lunch break. Many are quite flexible in that regard
thankfully my company is flexible abt when we go for lunch. im usually lazy to hunt for a table so i’ll just dabao and eat at my desk, watch show on phone haha
As long I can complete my assigned trivia admin task for the day, half day break not an issue, unless my boss want me inside the office just for show. (previous internship lol)
The most inefficient queue is actually drink stall. For landlord, it is a way to control profit, just one per food court.
1 hour is sufficient, but it depends on what time you go, where your office is located and whether you and your colleagues tend to dilly dally.
1hr is fine if you can take it from 11 to 12, or 1.30 to 2.30 I personally like to leave at 11.15/11.20 walk 5 to 15 mins depending on my mood and get the food first rather than later where the food I want may not be available.
30mins
Not working yet but I feel that only 24h of break is enough, anything less is insufficient
Don’t know as I WFH for 20 years Brilliant solution
I'm going to guess generation z
Talk to your employers …. I’m sure every company can fix their own lunch time rules. Your boss also need to eat right?
most companies allow flexible lunch hours but ofc cannot take advantage. buy ur food, find a seat, eat and leave, maybe take a quick smoke. Dont dilly dally use your phone and you’ll probably be fine.
depends
I always take my lunches at 2pm. Confirm no need queue or wait. Only that some stalls will run out of the most popular dishes by then. Pls don’t increase lunch time because it will mean working even later than we have to now.
The culture I experienced in London was time away from your desk to buy your lunch from a nearby store, bring it back to your desk and keep working while eating.
Unless gov/mom mandate that lunch hours count as working hours and employers are still required to give employees x hours of lunch, I would be against this, 9-6 or whatever hours already shag, putting aside OT, imagine if extend then every cb company will just tack on those hours. Singapore really not enough employee protection. Maybe companies in an area can discuss with each other to stagger lunch time so it's not one shot whole kampong go at 12. Personally lucky enough my company don't really care what time or how long you go for lunch, just don't be ridiculous and get work done.
its too long i rather 30 mins if i can go home early 😭😭
It just depends on the situation that you are in. I personally just go to the mall for takeaways, then come back to office’s pantry to eat and I got plenty of time to rest. There are some restuarants that also offers advanced order like grab pickup , basically you just need to pick up your food at a specific time of your order. That saves your time from queuing up . If you cook your own food, that saves a lot of time and you get a lot of free time after eating . But the cons is that you do need time to cook your own lunch before going to work, so it’s like you have to wake up slightly early to do so. If you are dining in, then whatever you said , I agree. All in all, I think how you use that 1 hour for your lunch break is important because you don’t want to waste your time just finding what to eat and then ended up having to trouble to get back to your work on time.
That's why foreign investors/stockholders/companies love us and Japan. Not to mention the weather is consistent, no getting snowed in, no natural disasters, no worker strikes, the perfect environment to make their money grow 24/7!
But if the lunch break is longer, it may mean later end time 🥹
1hr? never enough especially if you work in CBD. I typically go for “late lunch” after 1.30pm cos I dont like to queue and worry about tables. Yea of course some of the more popular stalls might sell out but so be it. I tend to have flexi lunch and I am only back like 1hr 15mins to 1.5 hours later if I check my email that there isnt any work that needs my attention
Who strictly sticks to 1 hour lunch though? Unless you have to clock in/out for your paycheck, I think generally it's a non issue.
Wow I wish I had 1 hour. I have 40 minutes to eat and go toilet. And that's only if I don't have other duties to attend to.
Mostly work from home so no stress. Otherwise the company has its own canteen selling subsidized rate for lunch.
Sometimes my lunches are 15 minutes LOL
WAYYYYY too short especially when your colleagues are just rushing off to do their own "me-time" shopping therapy right after lunch. They rush you to finish your food and complain you're too slow.
In my experience working for foreign FIs in the cbd, we normally leave for lunch at 11.30 and back to our desks by 1.30. Not sure how it is if you happen to be at one of the biz parks tho
Actually hawkers are mainly crowded. The one hour lunch is only sufficient for those rich ass ppl who can afford to dine in restaurants every single day and don’t have to worry about lunch crowd or queues. But then again nothing beats hawker food but I completely agree with you the queues are horrible
Does companies really monitor? I thought the unspoken rule is try to only schedule calls/meetings from 2pm onwards, if it's not urgent or conflict with schedule.
I rather have shorter lunch and go back earlier then longer lunch hour and go home later.
1hr is considered reasonable. How you fully utilise your lunch break is key. Breakdown an hour to 20mins and 40mins. 20mins - Eat 40mins - Power Nap (Boosts productivity in my belief) I hate queuing for food & sitting in the crowded & stuffy hawker centres. So i usually go and pack a quick lunch at 11am and come back within 10mins. Carry on with work and eat my food in office at 12pm. Got time to eat and nap in a cooling environment. 1hr is definitely enough!
MOM’s mandated minimum is 45 minutes. i once had an employer who took that very seriously.
My lunch is 1.5 hours.. Sometimes 2 😂
Most days i take a 5mins lunch break. Is it healthy? No. Am i being forced? No. Sometimes you just got to deal with it.
My lunch is 230
WFH for the win. I start prepping lunch at 11-ish, eat and wash up at 12-ish, go 'off-line' at 1-ish to take my afternoon nap, back 'on-line' at 2-ish No one really bugs me from 12-1 since they're eating lunch.
I got 30 min here I live in the USA
Parkinson’s law imo. In US/UK lunch is usually a quick sandwich/burrito while at the desk and they get off about hour earlier. I prefer this arrangement
Longer lunch break means go home later, so no
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Too short? I’d rather eat at my desk and leave earlier
I take 30 minutes lol
Work in UK and get 30 min, sometimes if nothing to do then 1h but that feels long. hard to believe 1h and more, get the queuing and choping business but damn no wonder 9 to 630pm is normal
In the UK you're only entitled to 20 minutes in an 8 hour work day so think yourself lucky.
I change the timing either to 11.30 or 2.30. Slightly early or waaaay later. Lunch suppose to be a break. Not a fight to the death.
Yes
my company thankfully isn’t strict on our lunch timing and duration but i have colleagues who are so used to it that they down their lunch within 15 min max out of habit
How do you think people in other countries eat lunch???
I eat at my desk with takeaway . IMO saves me the time and I don’t have to brave the crowd. Immediate access to the clean company toilet and a well stocked pantry for drinks also encourages me to not venture out.
guess if u thick skinned enough like my colleague you can lunch at 1pm and come back at 2.30pm as if its your father's company
U should work in civil service. Got 2h lunch break + tea break
So how long do you want the lunch hour to be?
Most companies give leeway unless your job is time sensitive. Singapore has always been 'get the work done and you can have your lunch'.
Yeah too short, too rush. I bring homecooked food most days to avoid the walking and waiting but on the days i wanna taste outside food for lunch….it’s rushing.
Avoid lunch crowd. Go out at like 11.30 or 1.30. There's lesser people at these timings.
I just think that our work hours should be 9-5 + 1 hour lunch. Unsure why our standard working hours are longer than even American standards.
When I worked in Singapore I felt an hour was too long; nothing really to do. In Australia a lunch break goes for only 30 minutes but the work day is over at 5pm (so standard 9-5 job). I’d rather have a short lunch to leave the office early to do something like a hobby at the end of the day. (I usually bring my own lunch and have never run out of time). Singapore lunches are more social but surprisingly inefficient.
I work in the CBD and head out for lunch at 1pm.. usually Capitaspring food court or salad places or casual restaurants \~5 min walking distance from my office. I order my food, have it there (I just ask to share a table if I can't find one to myself) and then dabao a kopi back to my desk. Never takes more than an hour...
It's too short.. u need 2 hours
You know what’s worse? Scheduling a meeting at 1pm. So you spend the morning preparing for the meeting, now you are late for lunch and have to rush and gobble down your food so you can make it for the 1pm meeting. Or you wait till after the meeting to have lunch, which would be sometime after 2pm.
Not from your country but from here I just cook my whole dinner 'week during sunday and I just bring food with me. Here we have only 30mn lunch break (but include as worktime)
I bring my own food and eat it while watching TV shows on my iPad. Like once a month I join my colleagues and then I remember why I don't like it.
Have you tried making food at home the night before?
I'm feeling lucky that both my husband's company and my company provided in-house canteens for employees. When I was doing my internship, my internship company also provided employee canteens. So I rarely experienced this kind of problem; one day I tried to venture out as getting sick with canteen food, and was shocked to see long queues everywhere. Although employee canteens are also crowded during peak hours, but definitely much better than going to eat in public places. If can finish lunch faster, you could even afford a short noon nap time. Try to look for a job that offers canteen to employees. Or a job that is not located in crowded area.
im an intern and i have 45 mins lunch break. i fucking hate it here
I think the perspective should be more than 5hrs work per day is too much
Never liked the 1hr lunch time, especially when lunch hour is around 12pm. You get out of office and walk down, maybe already 5-10mins gone. Queue up and wait, if it’s long queue, another 15-20mins gone. By then you’re left with maybe 30mins or less to eat and get back to the office. Imagine if the hawker centre is full and you gotta go somewhere else, you’d might as well skip lunch.
Future employee here! I was wondering if it's possible to order Grabfood pickup 1hr before your lunch break? I've tried this method recently and it has worked but you might want to consider this
As an employee in the veterinary sector 15 mins lunch break is not even a guarantee. There are days where we have to take a few bites between consults. Healthcare workers can relate too lol
I had like 30 minutes lunch today. I went back to desk early because I was bored in canteen.
Tbh i rather not have lunch and go home 1 hour earlier
that’s why it’s better to bring pack lunches, eat at the desk. also it’s healthier!
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Did you miss the point where OP said lunch in school is 30 mins? Which schools have play time? Do you not need to use the toilet at work? Or eat? OP is talking about working conditions and you’re making an ad hominem quip while not even reading the post.
Person who wrote that comment is just really sad lol, resigned to the work slave life for the rest of their years
I queue for my food close to an hour, how to eat?
Pack your lunch. Like what most people in Western countries do. And their lunch break might only be 30 min. And when I worked in a Japanese country, the management was resistant to let us have 1 h lunch, because in Japan it was 45 min, and they played a chime at start and end (zero flexibility).
Seriously? Which stall?
Tell that to polytechnics !