A lunch break is also an employer’s theory about how quickly a human need should be met.

The length of a lunch break is a claim about how quickly a person should be able to meet a basic need. Thirty minutes says one thing and an hour says another, and both are decisions about human bodies made for reasons that have nothing to do with bodies. It is a policy dressed as a schedule.

Look at the arrangements you accept or set. Whether people can eat properly, sit down, or step away is not a minor operational detail; it is the clearest statement an organisation makes about what it thinks people are. If you have any say, this is one of the cheapest places to make a real improvement.