Friday 5 June 2009

Reclaim your lunch hour


In honour of the beautiful weather that we’re enjoying in the UK at the moment, the Re-Everything team today made a concerted effort to close our laptops and leave behind our blackberries to sit in the park and enjoy an hour of well-deserved sunshine.

With only 16% of employees taking a ‘proper’ lunch break (and by that we mean about an hour away from your desk at least three times every week), and the average break lasting no more than 27 minutes, the glorious sunshine is the perfect opportunity to grab your workmates and get outside.

It's really important to take breaks with colleagues (you’re allowed to ban work talk!) - sitting in the park or outside a pub, going out to buy sandwiches - because good social relationships lead to better working relationships.

Food is also a fantastic excuse to get to know people too. Perhaps other people in your office are just waiting for someone to be the first to take the lead and begin a Friday lunch club?! Don’t be shy!

If you’re stuck for inspiration, have a look at http://www.thebiglunch.com/. The Big Lunch is the baby of Tim Smit of the Eden Project and his idea is that on Sunday 19th July the people of Britain stop what they're doing and sit down to have lunch together.

You can organise a party for your street, and ask everyone to bring something with them, whether that be food, music, entertainment, or even plants they’ve grown in their garden. Register your lunch at http://www.thebiglunch.com/, and that way Sue and Bob from number 32 will know what you’re planning and can offer to bring one of Sue’s fruit cakes.

We think its an absolutely brilliant way to get to make new friends and have a bit of a giggle, so we’re going to throw a Big Lunch here for our neighbours.

To find out more and organise your own Big Lunch, go to http://www.thebiglunch.com/. But don’t let it stop there, make lunchtimes a habit and enjoy them. They’re your time so don’t waste it!

We also think it’s a great bit of joined up, joined in thinking on behalf of the brands that are involved. The Big Lunch is sponsored by Mastercard (click here to see their lovely advertising on YouTube) and supported by EDF Energy, Royal Mail and The Post Office.

If you have, or know of, a brand that is looking for a clever piece of integrated thinking to link their CSR strategy to their brand values and do great things for their reputation, email us at ideas@re-everything.com

2 comments:

Raindance said...

We at Raindance.TV are also involved and saw that you are holding a Big Lunch and thought you might be interested in a competition we’re running ahead of the day itself. Our organisation promotes independent film and runs the Raindance Film Festival -- we’re inviting people to make a film about the Big Lunch and offering two £1000 prizes for the best. There’s still time to enter the competition if it’s of interest. Full details are at http://raindance.tv/thebiglunch

Raindance said...

Due to unprecedented demand to enter The Big Lunch Short Film Competition, some filmmakers have been requesting a bit more time to complete their films. We’re pleased to announce that we can extend the competition deadline until midnight Sunday 5 July. Competition details at http://raindance.tv/thebiglunch