The poll, carried out by careers website Monster, found that 30 percent of Germans do without lunch at work altogether – five percent more than five years ago – while half take only 15 minutes or do not stop working while eating.

“The desire to appear particularly motivated could be a reason that employees are leaving their lunch-breaks out,” said Monster’s Central European marketing manager Elke Guhl.

“The border between private life and career is becoming more and more blurred. Technological advances are making it possible to have access to your work material everywhere and any time.”

Despite this, studies have shown that regular breaks increase productivity and performance at work and help to prevent nervous exhaustion.

“Instead of staying at your workplace for longer, it’s better to show your motivation by achieving productivity goals agreed with your boss,” said Guhl.

Other countries are even more stressed out than Germany, the survey showed. After questioning 10,000 employees worldwide, the pollsters found that nearly half of Britons (45 percent), had no lunch or eat lunch at the workplace, followed by 38 percent of American workers, and 32 of Canadians.

At the other end of the spectrum, the Swedes and the Mexicans were the most relaxed, with only 11 percent anxiously cramming in food at their desks.

Few can beat the French lunch habits though – a third of French people still stick to the old-school regimen of taking a full hour off for their lunch.

The Local/bk