By: Melody Simmons

What do hunger pains and your workload have in common? Lots, according to a recent online poll.

Slightly less than half of employees queried in an August poll by Right Management and LinkedIn said they take a break for lunch – and 20 percent say they usually remain at their desk for the midday repast.

“Has the true lunch break become the exception rather than the rule?” wondered Stephanie Krizay, a vice president with Right Management, a career and workforce research and consulting company based in Philadelphia.

The poll, released Tuesday, asked 2,311 workers online “Do you take a break for lunch at work?”

The responses ranged from: Yes, almost always (47 percent); Yes, but usually stay at my desk (20 percent); Only from time to time (19 percent); and Seldom, if ever (13 percent).

Krizay believes some employees may feel pressure from heavy workloads to skip or alter lunch  breaks.

“Sometimes employees feel the need to stay at their desk or to apologize for stepping out,” she said, via a news release on the poll results. “But this kind of culture isn’t the way to heighten performance and engagement.”

Other findings in the poll show that top-level executives are the most likely to take a lunch break (53 percent) and men are more likely than women to do so, 49 percent to 42 percent.