Pure Leaf Tea’s new State of the Break report found that 3 in 5 workers struggle to take
breaks during the workday, leaving two-thirds of workers still feeling mentally, physically, and emotionally exhausted. Based on their findings, Mind Share Partners helped Pure Leaf develop strategies for managers and workers alike to better enable a better break culture for employers.
Pure Leaf’s “State of the Break” report found that flexibility and autonomy have the most impact on encouraging breaks.
People managers can:
Start an open dialogue about workplace norms and how to create a flexible break environment for you and your team. You can say something like, “I’d love for us to feel like we have autonomy and flexibility around breaks. What can I do to help?”
Collectively decide with your team the number or duration of breaks policy and allow flexibility when employees take their break time.
Pure Leaf’s “State of the Break” report found that if managers could schedule break reminders, almost two-thirds of workers would be motivated to take a break.
People managers can:
Be proactive and ask your employee if they’ve taken a break yet. Do this regularly and give folks positive recognition when they do.
Loosely pre-schedule breaks with your team and people leaders. Consider online tools as a reminder for your team to taker breaks.
Ensure that when breaks are being taken, the team knows to respect them where possible.
Pure Leaf’s “State of the Break” report found that for workers: interruptions during breaks can be a problem.
Workers can:
Start a conversation with your team around different types of interruptions, and brainstorm ways to keep them from occurring. (e.g., clarifying when things aren’t urgent).
Make sure your break time is clearly communicated to your colleagues and managers leveraging one of Pure Leaf’s “tea break” prompts.
Try to physically remove yourself from your workplace and/or technology for the duration of your break.
Pure Leaf’s “State of the Break” report found that most workers are only attending to basic needs when they take a break, and when they can't take one at all, they feel exhausted.
Workers can:
Vocalize to your manager what you would like to be able to do on your break. Describe how it is helpful to your productivity and wellbeing and find ways to make this possible (e.g., when breaks can happen, reprioritizing workflows).
Use at least part of your break to do an activity that you like to do, like take a walk, stretch, or converse with a fellow employee.
Increase the length of your breaktime, where possible, to ensure you can attend to more than your basic needs.