(Genuine question) but why wouldn't someone be able to have lunch with their OH while working a traditional 5-day week? Surely a lunch break is something everyone is entitled to even when they're working that day?
Hell, even if I'm just going for lunch by myself there are lots of restaurants I cannot really go to, simply because it takes too long to get there, eat, and get back. Basically, while I always have time to eat lunch, but very rarely have time to enjoy lunch.
So, given we're talking about employers offering flexibility, how about allowing people to take a longer lunch break so they can go for lunch with their OH, but either start their day earlier or stay at work later?
I get in early, only take 10 minutes at lunch but then I head home at 3-4PM to miss rush. Sometimes I log back in from home and do more hours (especially if there is a problem), sometimes I leave even earlier and don't, sometimes I WFH on a Friday and spend 3 hours in the middle of the day getting the train out to my parents for a long weekend then the afternoon is half heartedly watching emails while drinking coffee with my parents.
At the end of the day as long as I'm not inconveniencing colleagues then it comes down to does my output make me worth my salary.
It’s not the same thing though. It’s avoiding the pressure to crush wasteful time in the working day (think 30 person zoom meetings that consist of 2 people talking and 28 people quietly doing emails). This pressure is unavoidable with the typical “100 per cent pay, for 80 per cent of the time, while maintaining 100 per cent productivity” 4 day approach.
My commute to the office is over an hour (London, England) from my home, so returning home for lunch is not an option.
The 4-day work week is fairly normalized here to try and balance careers for both parents with raising children, so these articles seem really weird to me. The tradeoff is you get paid for 32 hours instead of 40, and any other benefits (holidays, bonuses, expenses, etc) are adjusted according to how much of a percentage of full-time (40 hours/week) you work.