Lara Barnett Jul 7, 2023:

Sector Often the different work sectors have different terms for this kind of thing, specific to the ways of working that sectors tend to share an adopt. So this is where context again will be an issue here.
Also, terms are used differently within different industries, for example, personally I have seen "split shift" used in a slightly different way across the industries of:
film/tv production Vs hospitality/catering. Which will be contextual again, and the same kind of usage difference will probably occur elsewhere.

Yvonne Gallagher Jul 7, 2023:

@Asker (unpaid) "time off" is another option.
However, once you have explained the actual context (as Tony said), then "break", paid or unpaid, should be self explanatory

Charlesp (asker) Jul 7, 2023:

@ Laura the problem with simply saying "break" is that I am seeking to differentiate between a short break with a longer break - one type of break is on paid time and the other unpaid.
So "paid break" and "unpaid break" is possible, but a short time out for stretching or a brief pause from work can't really be called an "paid break", can it?

Plus I am looking for a way to avoid using the word "break" for both terms.

And I would think that "interval between shifts" is too specific. It might be accurate in some instances, but not in all where there is a long break, e.g. an extended lunch break.

Yvonne Gallagher Jul 6, 2023:

with Lara and Tony It's a split shift with an interval of several hours between, often used in the restaurant business, for example. Work lunch, have some hours off and then have to return to do the dinner shift

Daryo Jul 2, 2023:

A "break" of 5 hours is not the kind of "break" mentioned in https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work nor https://www.acas.org.uk/rest-breaks. These rules are about short "breaks" within one working day - in the middle of one continuous shift.

A "break" of 5 hours sounds more like "une coupure" or "split shift".

Maybe "time off"?

Lara Barnett Jun 30, 2023:

Interval Maybe you could say "interval between shifts" or something, which is not a common term, but you may need to work around the limitations that English provides, as Tony suggests. i.e. Make good !

Althea Draper Jun 30, 2023:

Types of breaks in the UK, https://www.gov.uk/rest-breaks-work
https://www.acas.org.uk/rest-breaks

Tony M Jun 30, 2023:

@ Asker In catering, for example, where people work lunch-time, then have a break before coming back to work the dinner service, this is called a 'coupure' in FR, but usually referred to as a 'split shift' in EN; however, as the part of speech is different, it might be tricky to work in. Once you have mentioned 'split shift', then you can readily continue to use 'break', as it has been made clear what the context is.

philgoddard Jun 30, 2023:

This sounds like it belongs in another language pair. As you imply, the same word can be used for both in English.

Lara Barnett Jun 30, 2023:

@ Asker Is this concerning a lunch break or a different type of break? And what is the problem with simply saying "break"? That sounds fine to me, unless you want to say lunch break, which is normally understood to be a longer period than a coffee break.

Christopher Schröder Jun 30, 2023:

Long break and short break😂

Rest period might work