Shorter lunch hour and earlier clocking-off times wanted by 82.3% of Spanish workers

A poll carried out by the Ulises Social Barometer on daily newspaper 20 Minutos says 67.5% would be quite happy with a shorter lunch hour – those working in offices and shops in particular break between two hours and four-and-a-half hours, typically starting from 13.00 or 14.00.

This means finishing late in the evening, often 12 hours from when they started in the morning – a very long day for those who do not live near enough to their workplace to return home for lunch, and effectively obliging them to spend money eating out daily.

Another 64.5% would be willing to sacrifice their 'breakfast break': normally starting somewhere between 11.00 and 11.30, 'breakfast' means 30-40 minutes of down time, often with the entire office leaving en masse.

In total, 82.3% would prefer a more condensed working day so they can finish earlier and enjoy a longer evening at home, with their family or friends, or on other leisure activities.

Very few would be willing to give up on a lunch break altogether, though: dining al desko is not for Spanish workers as, even if they had a much shorter lunch period, they still want to have one and for their main hot meal of the day to be at lunch rather than in the evening, in the case of 61.2% interviewed.

Full-time employees are the most concerned about the length of the Spanish working day, less so than part-time workers, students or pensioners.

The latter's opinion may appear irrelevant, as they are no longer working, but typical opening hours in Spain affect them, too, as they are unable to do any shopping for several hours in the middle of the day and, for those with family living nearby, they see very little of them on weekdays.

Also, pensioners often provide the bulk of childcare, meaning late-evening clocking-off times extend their own workload.

Pensioners were more likely to believe it would be better all round to have a light lunch in the middle of the day and a main meal in the evening, however – 47% in total, compared with the 82.6% of students who would not be happy with this option.

Students at Spanish universities have lectures practically all day, spending nearly as long in the classroom as workers do in the office or their shops, meaning their opinion is equally as relevant.

Among those in the more financially-comfortable bracket, over 77% would be in favour of reducing breaks and shortening lunch hours, more so than those on lower pay.

Surprisingly, the most resistance to a more concentrated day with an earlier finish and shorter lunch break are the very young: nearly 81% of those aged 18 to 24 would be against it.

By contrast, pensioners are more in favour, exactly the opposite to the results surveyors expected to find: it was assumed the middle-aged and elderly would be more 'set in their ways' and unwilling to change the status quo, whilst the youth would be more adaptable and keen to follow international examples.

Those aged 25 to 34 were the most in favour of cutting the long lunch hour, whilst those aged 35 to 44 were more inclined to prefer the idea of starting work earlier.

Around 55.%% said they would be prepared to get up between 06.30 and 07.00 to get to work and go to bed earlier, between 22.30 and 23.00, whilst just over 37% would not be happy with this as they are more 'night owl' than 'lark' by nature.

Making the lunch break earlier would not gain much support: 40% were dead against the idea of taking lunch between 12.30 and 13.30, and a further 40% would not want to have their evening meal as early as 19.30 or 20.00.

At present, a standard full-time employee's day in Spain would involve starting work somewhere between 08.00 and 09.30 – the former more for public sector office work or banks, and the latter for shops and other offices; breakfast for 30-40 minutes from around 11.00 or 11.30; lunch normally between 13.30 and 16.00 as a minimum or even 13.00 and 17.30 in many cases; then finishing work between 20.00 and 21.00.

This means the evening meal is rarely eaten before 22.00 – in fact, few restaurants even open their kitchens until 20.00 and customers entering at that time will generally have the place to themselves – prime-time television shows tend to start around 23.00, and few Spaniards get to bed before midnight or 01.00.

Children normally go to bed at the same time as their parents, and start school at 09.00 for primary and 08.00 for secondary students.

They nearly always have extra-curricular classes, usually English, maths, IT, music or sports