Meetings have always been an integral part of the professional environment, but a post-COVID surge has some organizations rethinking just how necessary these check-ins actually are.
According to a study by Reclaim, professionals spent more than half of their 40-hour workweek in meetings in 2021. Breaking that cycle has been difficult; a 2022 study by AI transcription service Otter and UNC Charlotte found that employees were still spending an average of 18 hours in meetings per week, limiting worker productivity, increasing the amount of off-hours work being done and, therefore, the chance of burnout, and costing companies millions in unnecessary spending.
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But getting rid of all meetings isn't an option — or is it? TechSmith, a screen capture software and productivity solutions platform, noticed this trend within their own workforce and took a drastic step: Instead of attempting to cut down the number of meetings taking up time during the week, they shut down meetings for an entire month last July. What they found has
"Having a meeting should not be the default. We all need to be intentional about how we're using other people's time, and that was a big part of this experiment," says Amy Casciotti, VP of HR at TechSmith. "It's not that we thought we were going to get rid of meetings forever, but it was ensuring that we were being very intentional about the meetings we were having, and that they were productive for everyone in the room."
Casciotti experienced the drain on her days firsthand, as before this experiment, her entire day was taken up by meetings. As a mother of three, finding time over lunch hours and on weekends to get other things done was not the most efficient, or desirable, use of her time.
"We found out a lot of our meetings were just people sharing information; now we've done what we call 'flipping the meeting,' where folks will share information ahead of time, so our employees actually have time to think about the information and give a thoughtful response back or brainstorm some ideas," she says. "Then, if we still need to have a meeting, we're not just sharing information, we're actually having a conversation and needing less time than we did before."
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With their team of 300 working 100% remotely during the pandemic, virtual meeting fatigue became evident, and the company sought to make changes before shifting to a hybrid work culture as employees began returning to the office. According to the report the company produced on the outcome of their meeting-free month, there was a 15% increase in employees who felt productive during this time, and employees also enjoyed more flexibility in their work time.
"Employers want employees to be flexible and work when an emergency comes up, but it has to be a two-way street," says Casciotti. "This meeting culture plays into why work bleeds into the nights and weekends, because there is no heads-down time during the day if you're going from one meeting to another."
Additionally, their experiment revealed that
"As a manager, I don't know all of the tasks that are on all of my teammates' schedules," Casciotti says. "We trust them to know how best to structure their day — especially creative time. If they're in that flow, and we interrupt to make them come to a meeting that they might not have needed to attend, how inefficient is that?"
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Since the experiment ended, TechSmith hasn't eliminated every meeting. But research shows keeping a few meetings on the schedule can help employees, too. A 2022 survey of 76 companies from Harvard Business Review found employee productivity was 71% higher when meetings were reduced by 40%, and removing 60% of meetings increased cooperation by 55%. Switching to online project-based communication through Slack and Teams was also found to decrease stress by 57%, compared to in-person meetups.
As employers look to trim costs, reducing time waste from meetings can make a big impact: the average organization invests over $80,000 in meetings per employee, per year, according to the report from Otter. Their data shows that companies of 100 people that cut unnecessary meetings would save nearly $2.5 million per year, and companies of 5,000 people would see savings rise to over $100 million.
TechSmith has continued to experiment with their meeting approach, and beyond their "meeting flipping" tactic, now sends out short videos on new ideas or policies. The recipients of the videos have a week to watch and respond with thoughts and feedback. The original creator can see these comments, and schedule a quick meeting if it is still required. This approach has dramatically cut down on processes that used to take months, says Casciotti.
Though sometimes meetings are necessary, converting a meeting-centric company culture will enhance the productivity,
"It took a lot of upfront effort not just from my HR team, but a lot of others across the company to get things comfortable," Casciotti says. "Inclusive decision-making is one of our values, and to do that you need to allow for all different types of thinking. We're going to see benefits that have nothing to do with meetings come out of this."
