How do you usually eat during your lunch break at work? Okay, you don’t have to answer – it’s a personal matter. We suggest simply comparing your own possible answer with the picture that is obtained in the country as a whole if you conduct an appropriate survey. A well-known research recruiting portal conducted a sociological study on this topic. Representativeness, that is, the representativeness of the survey results, can be considered high. The survey was conducted in February-April 2021. In total, 414 settlements were covered, 2,000 respondents representing the economically active population of Russia over 18 years old answered. What is also important: those who work in the employer’s territory answered the questions. That is, those who work from home and, accordingly, those who dine at home, of course, were not counted.
So, to the question “how do you usually eat during your lunch break at work?” 58% of those surveyed answered that they bring food from home. Another 17% said that they dine in a canteen or a cook prepares them at work, and 10% said that they dine in canteens – cafes – restaurants. Accordingly, in 2018, 51% of the respondents said that they bring food from home, 19% – they dine in the canteen of the organization, and 15% – they dine in canteens – cafes – restaurants. There were still other options for an answer, but they practically did not change: in 2021, 8% of respondents said that they go home to dine (in 2018, there were 9% of them); both in 2021 and in 2018, only 1% of respondents ordered food with delivery to the office. There was another answer: “Other” – in 2021 2%, in 2018 3%. An interesting option: “It’s hard to answer” – in 2021 4%, in 2018 2%. How’s that? People don’t know where they usually dine if they find it difficult to answer? Anyway. This is not the most interesting thing in the survey results.
Still, the most interesting and important answer is: “I bring food from home.” There were more women among those who answered in this way – 70%, among men – 46%. As for the distribution of answers by age, the picture here does not change much. It would seem that older people should be more focused on homemade food, but among those who are 45 years old and older, this is 60%, but among those who are under 24 years old – 63%. Well, among those who are from 25 to 44 years old, those are 57%.
Why is this picture emerging? Unfortunately, the respondents were not asked the question “why do you bring food from home?” After all, this is the most interesting thing. There could be several answers to this question: 1) it is cheaper this way; 2) safer, still a pandemic; 3) you can have a quick lunch; 4) tastier and safer than in public catering. It is likely that someone brings food from home for several reasons: for example, it is more economical, and faster, and tastier.
Nevertheless, the findings of the study provide information on what drives Russians to dine in the workplace. According to the survey results, those who have a monthly income of up to 30 thousand rubles (70%) bring food from home most of all. But among those who earn 80 thousand rubles a month or more, only 43% of the respondents bring food from home.
It turns out, here it is, the main reason why people dine in the workplace – saving forces. This is a rather unconventional proof that the problem of poverty in the country remains relevant. Let me remind you that back in the 2003 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly, the task was set to solve the problem of poverty in the country. And since then we have been solving-solving-solving this problem. And we just can’t decide. They made it to the point that in 2020 they moved the achievement of the national goal to reduce the poverty level by 2 times compared to 2017 from 2024 to 2030. Pay attention to the time interval again: in 2003 the task was set, and by 2030 we only hope to partially solve it. Will the period be too long for partial achievement of the goal – 27 years?
That’s the kind of story that turns out. You can scrupulously analyze the indicators that characterize the standard of living, or you can just pay attention to how many people in our country bring food from home to have lunch at work, and find out why they do it. The picture is the same in both cases: a rich country and a poor population. Well, of course, we have rich people and people of average income. However, of course, with the trillions of petrodollars that the country received from oil exports in the 21st century, the problem of poverty in our country should not have existed for a long time. And it exists, even as it exists! Vaughn appears among the national goals.
But what about dinners abroad? In this regard, a study was conducted by the Chartered Society of Physiotherapy (CSP) in the UK. It surveyed more than 2,000 people about what they do at lunchtime at work. Among those surveyed, 20% said they did not take lunch break. They continue to work at lunchtime. Half of the people take a break but eat at their table while browsing the Internet, responding to emails, or surfing social media. Unfortunately, there is no clarifying information that is important for us, whether it was food brought from home. One in five people left the workplace for lunch to go shopping or get some air, and 3% go to the gym (which is cool – instead of lunch!).
Bupa, a global insurance company, conducted a similar study, according to which almost a third of employees (31%) admitted that they usually eat at their desk. Alas, foreign researchers again did not specify whether it was food from home.
It turns out interestingly: both in our country and in the same Great Britain, a significant part of the workers eat lunch at their workplace, but only here people do it primarily because of saving money, and there, apparently, because of saving time. Well, here’s the difference between us and them.
Bon appetit to all of us, whether in the workplace or elsewhere!
Newspaper headline:
At whose expense lunch
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