Pressured graduates 'skipping lunch' - graduate jobs

Accountancy graduates are skipping lunch breaks in their first job because of pressure to get work done, the Advisory, Conciliation and Arbitration Service (Acas) has suggested.

The service is worried that workers may be concerned taking breaks would look bad to employers, but director of operational policy and performance, Jane Bird, added that employees would be less productive if they did not take the breaks they were allowed.

The Health and Safety Executive has found "excessive demands" were often the cause of workplace stress, while a study by Spar discovered that seven million workers skip their lunchbreaks, and seven in ten UK workers not leaving their desk.

An estimated 10% of builders and graduate trainees and 12% of promotions executives were also found to sleep during their lunch breaks.