PMs Reveal the 8 Reasons Why Taking a ‘Lunch Break’ is Impossible

Commenting on a Facebook post, property managers shared why lunch breaks are out of reach in the PM profession.

We ran a competition on Facebook asking PMs why they struggle to find time for a lunch break.

Here are the top comments as voted by readers:

Because even though you’re at lunch, the work keeps rolling in. So by the end of the week, you have another 5 hours of work to fit in amongst everything else you have to fit in during a week but never can. I would rather skip lunch and keep working consistently rather than stop and start while you are on a roll because there are so many interruptions and distractions in PM that taking a lunch break just feels like another one of them – posted by Rachel Weir

The poor cousin of real estate

Because directors don’t often understand the demands of PM and often neglect the needs of the rental department. I have finally found an office where I can take a break for the first time in almost 7 years –posted by Lea Tealeaf

Superheroes

Because apparently PMs are superhuman and don’t do what normal people do. No one thinks we need a lunch break. Calls and emails keep coming in. Technology has made us too contactable – Posted by Kelly Gatt Muscat

Unpaid overtime

[There are] not enough hours in the day. It was made very clear to me I was ‘expected’ to work overtime unpaid – ‘it comes with the territory’. So a lot of the time you work through lunch in the hope of actually getting home to your family – Posted by Kylie Ellis

Fierce competition

The demands of being in the service industry, and with the way the world is nowadays, people want everything straight away and they want you to be accessible. Technology has a lot to do with this. So if you are ‘unavailable’ because you are ‘at lunch’, that new client will be off to your competitor who does take the call straight away – Posted by Matt Sharp

Breaks bring longevity

I have been doing PM work for over 25 years and I have always made sure that I take a lunch break. I might stay late or start early but I always have a break in the middle of the day. Nothing is that urgent or that important that it can’t wait half an hour. You need to take a break or you go nuts! – Posted by Joanne Melrose

The norm not possible

I always found that an expected lunch break at the norm lunchtime was impossible as it catered around other humans doing their stuff at lunch – i.e. calls, viewing, errands. I always found 3 pm was when I stopped and to get food. So maybe lunch is not something we should be doing, BUT a break no matter where in the day to suit the needs of the industry is compulsory – Posted by Claire Weggery

State of mind

It is nothing but a mindset. If clients call while I am on lunch, I tell my receptionist to say I am on lunch. We are human after all, just like our clients – Posted by Andrew Antipas