Why So Many Meetings Are a Waste of Time
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Why Too Many Meetings Are a Waste of Time
Managers who hold too many status meetings and unending conference calls decrease the amount of time and energy employees have to complete meaningful work. -
Ideal Culture
47% of the U.S. professionals surveyed described a collaborative environment as the ideal workplace culture, and 20% favor a democratic one in which all employees have a voice. -
Delayed Start
64% of them participate in status calls with colleagues, and they wait an average of 6.5 minutes for all invited colleagues to join a call. -
Endless Agenda
37% of the survey respondents spend at least two hours a week attending meetings and status calls. -
Prep Time
32% spend at least two hours preparing for those meetings and conference calls, and 19% spend four hours or more prepping. -
Multitasking
74% of the respondents take part in other activities while on mute during status conference calls. -
Work-Life Balance
57% of those who handle non-meeting-related activities during calls spend the time on business-related tasks, while 50% attend to personal matters. -
Work-Related Activities Conducted While on a Call
Respond to work emails: 33%, Talk to someone else in the office: 33%, Respond to a manager or colleague: 23%, Make snide comments about the meeting: 14%, Get on another call: 12% -
Personal Activities Conducted While on a Call
Eat lunch: 24%, Respond to personal emails: 22%, Use the bathroom: 17%, Watch TV: 15%, Hush a barking dog: 10% -
Laser Focus
Only 26% of the U.S. employees surveyed focus on the conference call without getting sidetracked by other activities. -
Top Frustrations
68% of the respondents work with a team that has remote members, and keeping everyone in the loop and communicating with the team are the biggest frustrations.
For U.S. employees, the hours spent discussing work issues with bosses and colleagues—and prepping for those meetings—seems to rival the time spent actually doing their work, according to a survey from Clarizen. In a sense, we bring this on ourselves, as today's collaborative office environment is considered by many to be the ideal workplace culture. Collaboration, of course, requires meetings—including seemingly endless status meetings and conference calls. Unfortunately, during these discussions, the attendees' attention tends to wander, and many participants put themselves on hold during conference calls, indulging in a wide range of both professional (checking emails) and personal (eating lunch) activities. Status meetings "substantially decrease the amount of time and energy workers can devote to completing meaningful work," said Viken Eldemir, general managers of the Americas for Clarizen. "Solutions that drive productive, collaborative work can make a dramatic impact on the efficiency of teams by focusing meetings on strategy and planning versus boring status updates." A total of 1,120 U.S. workers took part in this research, which was conducted by the Harris Poll.