Ever get the feeling your team meetings are a waste of time? You’re not alone – a new survey has revealed that a whopping 46% of people would prefer to do almost anything else than sit in a lengthy team meeting.
Team meetings, check-ins, employee updates – whatever you call them, and however often you have them, there’s one thing they have in common: your employees hate them – but it might surprise some HR managers to learn just how much.
In a recent Harris poll, 46% of respondents said they’d prefer to do almost anything else than sit in a lengthy team meeting. Some of the more humorous examples include:
The average employee spends 4 hours a week in meetings and an additional 4.6 hours preparing for them – but a huge 35% said they were “a waste of my time.”
In other words, these meetings cost the average company one day a week of work time per employee. A company or team that eliminated them could see productivity increase by about 20 percent.
But you can’t scrap meetings altogether so what can you do?
That would save a lot of time over check-in meetings or having teams write up reports.
Melissa Dahl, of New York Magazine, recently wrote that standing up meetings can reduce meeting time by 34%.
Cut the length of meetings and arrange something fun instead, like Friday drinks or a pizza lunch – the bonding will still take place but your employees will be happier and even more motivated.
In a recent Harris poll, 46% of respondents said they’d prefer to do almost anything else than sit in a lengthy team meeting. Some of the more humorous examples include:
- 17% would rather watch paint dry
- 8% would rather endure a root canal
- 7% would rather get a mullet hairstyle
- 6% would rather move to Antarctica
The average employee spends 4 hours a week in meetings and an additional 4.6 hours preparing for them – but a huge 35% said they were “a waste of my time.”
In other words, these meetings cost the average company one day a week of work time per employee. A company or team that eliminated them could see productivity increase by about 20 percent.
But you can’t scrap meetings altogether so what can you do?
- Try collaboration software
That would save a lot of time over check-in meetings or having teams write up reports.
- Meet standing up
Melissa Dahl, of New York Magazine, recently wrote that standing up meetings can reduce meeting time by 34%.
- Do something fun instead
Cut the length of meetings and arrange something fun instead, like Friday drinks or a pizza lunch – the bonding will still take place but your employees will be happier and even more motivated.
