Stop the Meeting Madness

Anyone need some interesting stats for the next office quiz to kick off a team meeting on productivity? Or maybe you've had enough Zoom fatigue and would like some proof that sometimes less is more when it comes to virtual meetings? We've got you covered.

Meeting Statistics

There are 55 million meetings each week in the US.

That's a big number, but what does it mean on an individual level? Employees attend 62 meetings on average per month (Isn't that the same number of Chick-Fil-A runs the average soccer mom makes in a month?)

The average worker spends 15 hours each week in meetings and planning for them.

Remote work hasn’t helped reduce meeting overload. In fact, 70% of employees say they faced a 70% increase in meetings when remote work ramped up.

It's no wonder 78% of workers believe that their meeting schedules are chaotic.

Evidently, people do find ways to cope with the chaos - 92% of employees say they multitask in meetings. (Only 8% of people are surprised.)

One survey found that 67% of employees complain that too much time in meetings hinders them from being as productive as they could be. (It's likely the other 33% are great multitaskers.)

These unproductive meetings waste 24 billion working hours.

One way of coping for many people may be watching movies while working. It turns out 50% of workers admit they stream movies at work.

Even company leaders admit work meetings aren't often what they hope they would be. Executives think 67% of meetings fail to accomplish their goals. (Should 100% of board members be concerned?)

Employees say the biggest challenge during meetings is off-topic conversations.

Want your team to be more productive? Schedule fewer meetings say 21% of people.

Too much negative data about meetings?

If you're feeling discouraged, there are ways to improve meetings and get people excited about attending them. Workers sat the best way to do it is to plan the meeting well (top pick for 64%). If most coworkers are younger (18-29 years), lunch should be provided (top pick for 71%).

Plus, here's a positive fact about meetings, the communication method that makes employees the happiest is face-to-face meetings.

In fact, 76% of professionals prefer face to face communication during meetings rather than calls or video conferencing.

95% of professionals regard meeting in person to be an effective way to foster relationships at work.

So, trimming back on the virtual meetings and ensuring that strategic agendas are laid out with clear goals for the remaining meetings could be a game changer. Even if your workers are remote, it's likely that those who can meet in person, would appreciate the opportunity to do so from time to time.

It's possible to know when face to face meetings are the best type to plan. Check out these 9 Benefits of In Person Meetings to establish some criteria for when it's better to schedule an in person meeting. We also surveyed workers to find out when they think it's important to plan virtual meetings and when it's ideal to schedule a face to face time to connect. There's a handy infographic included with our survey results, so you can easily glance over that to compare the main benefits of in person meetings versus those of virtual meetings.

Effective meetings don't have to be painful. In fact, when the right type is chosen and planned well, they can help build relationship and move priorities forward. Here's to better meetings and better relationships!

Data Sources: LiveCareer, Kornferry, Clockwise, The Muse, Atlassian, Doodle