A TikTok creator who goes by Zero Dollar Coach went viral after sharing his policy of allowing employees to take lunch breaks as long as two hours, provided their work is completed. The creator adds that his employees get paid lunch breaks and that he doesn't use a stopwatch to keep track of how long they take.
“I don't care how long of a lunch my employees take,” he said.
The boss and business owner cited examples of an employee who spent lunch with a relative who was visiting or was given some extra time after a tough morning. He explained that employees typically made up for the time in other ways. For instance, someone who takes a two-hour lunch one day might eat at their desk on another, skip lunch, or stay late to finish something that needs to be done time-sensitively.
@zerodollarcoaching I don’t care if you take a two-hour lunch. If the work gets done and you're not screwing over your team, stop putting lunch on a stopwatch. #leadership #management #businessowner #entrepreneur
♬ original sound - Zero Dollar Coach
He also noted that some companies closely monitored lunch breaks while ignoring the extra time employees gave back by working through other breaks or staying late. He said companies that tracked every minute of an employee's long lunch should equally account for every minute employees gave back through shorter breaks, phone calls taken during meals, or staying late.
“You don't get to count every minute an employee takes from you and completely ignore every minute they give back,” he said.
In the end, he said his policy work is completed, on customer service and on the effect that an employee's absence has on their colleagues rather than on lunch duration. "If the work gets done and the customers are taken care of and you're not screwing over the rest of the team, I genuinely do not care how long it took you to eat a sandwich," he said.
The video had drawn 312,000 likes as of publication and led to thousands of comments saying that they would rather work for a manager who gives employees that degree of autonomy. One noted, "Treat adults like adults, and you get an adult," and another said that their most productive employees were those who they treated "like adult humans."
Some people also shared accounts of having strictly timed breaks. A number of them were healthcare workers who said they are given 30-minute lunch breaks while on 12-hour shifts and that they sometimes are not allowed to take those breaks either.
Some, on the other hand, noted that if bosses allow longer lunch breaks, it can create difficulties in places where employees have to rely on one another to keep things going. The creator acknowledged that coverage issues were a valid concern and said he would address any employee who misused the flexibility rather than applying strict monitoring to everyone.
