Since the health crisis, the neologism “réunionite” has entered the common language of the business world. And for good reason, many employees complain about the frequency of meetings. According to a study carried out by the French leader in office operators and design, Deskeo, published this Tuesday, June 18, nearly 57% of employees surveyed participate in at least one meeting per week. And almost a quarter of them have attended at least four weekly meetings.
An excessive pace which would harm efficiency. Nearly half of employees feel that meetings affect their productivity, and 20% “significantly”. This is why just under six out of ten employees consider these chain meetings “not very effective”, and almost a quarter “not at all effective”. “Time spent in meetings can sometimes harm productivity by preventing you from accomplishing essential tasks, moving forward on projects or thinking in depth,” explains Kim Le, chief marketing officer (CMO) of Deskeo.
Meetings too frequent and too long
Especially since he It is “not uncommon for them to drag on without any concrete decision being taken,” continues Kim Le. In fact, nearly one in four employees estimate the average duration of meetings at one to two hours via video conference. And more than 17% say in-person meetings last more than two hours. A “waste of time results in a drop in the quality of work and increased stress linked to the accumulation of unfinished tasks,” explains the study.
Even more telling, nine out of ten employees admit to engaging in other activities during meetings. A third browse the Internet, 31.2% scroll on social networks, almost a quarter send messages, and more than one in two scribble in their notebook. 17.8% also watch the weather. Proof, according to Kim Le, that meetings can quickly move from “times conducive to the implementation of an action plan”, to “places sterile discussions”.
Agenda, collaborative tools… Avenues for improvement
To make these discussions more effective, the employees interviewed came up with a series of proposals. For example, 56% of them suggest spacing out the number of meetings, and almost half suggest reducing their duration. In addition, 41.9% would like more online collaboration tools, and 32.4% would like to set a “clear and precise” agenda.
Another idea shared by nearly a third of employees: “make meetings less formal”. A little less than a quarter put on the table the limitation of the number of participants which would perhaps further allow the 47% of those who believe “not to have enough opportunity to express their opinion” to do so.