Meeting creep: Strict measures against it are being tested

If one tries to schedule a gathering of three or more people, a small red price tag pops up, estimating the cost based on the size of the meeting, its duration, and the average salary of the participants. A 30-minute job for three people can range from $700-1,600, depending on role and seniority, with the executives involved sending it higher.

Some parts of Shopify’s meeting cancellation can backfire. Should meeting schedulers be reminded of how high salaries some managers get? In addition, Professor Benjamin Laker of Henley Business School in the UK states, “It is important to remember that the value of a meeting is defined not only by its length or the number of people present, but also by the productivity and quality of the conversation.” ” But on balance, it’s a worthy test.

According to Laker, meetings are best used to assign work to teams, clarify policies or goals, and discuss which projects are going well or need action. These uses are well worth the cost. But too many meetings focus only on information that could have been posted, providing status updates (what Slack is for); or setting a time limit.

Useless meetings are enemy number 1 today. In a Microsoft report, employees said “inefficient meetings” were the main obstacle to getting work done. A 2021 survey suggested that while employees attend an average of 11-15 meetings a week, executives even more. Another found that professionals spend half their time at work in meetings, a huge jump.

Perhaps part of the change is the move from spontaneous chats to planned chats. Stand-in for office conversation. but flat structures and more consensus-driven Leadership Also ask for more cooperation. If you can’t make a decision without all the stakeholders, then you need a meeting. There are downsides to the hierarchy, but at least there is less need to pull it all together. Want Decision? Ask Who Pays Highest.

The design of the office also plays a role. At a time when private cabins were common, it was easy to pull someone inside for a quick chat. Now that privacy has waned, every delicate conversation requires a meeting.

Then there’s the problem of doing too much. When leaders have high expectations of what can be accomplished, employees become overloaded and the best way to get feedback is to go to their calendars. Given all these ‘inflationary pressures’ on meetings, it is only fair to crack down on them.

Reminding employees that ‘time is money’ can have some drawbacks. Management professors Cassie Mogilner, Ashley Whillans and Michael Norton state in a research review that “when people are motivated to equate time and money by putting a price on their time … their behavior changes. ” When not directly tied to their compensation, feel more stressed and may be more impatient. In other words, focusing on money makes people a little more antisocial – but it may also force them to work harder, for longer.

Another problem that Shopify’s meeting-cost calculator won’t solve is inefficient meeting scheduling. People’s problem with meetings is not always the number of them, because they are important, but the scattering of meetings throughout the day in such a way that it becomes impossible to concentrate on deep work. Get them together, and people have at least a few hours a day to focus on.

Still, there are benefits to reducing the total number of meetings. In a survey of 76 companies, Laker and colleagues found that cutting the number of meetings improved employee productivity, accountability, and job satisfaction and reduced workers’ feelings of being micromanaged. He says it’s often more practical to designate certain mornings or afternoons as meeting-free, rather than the entire day. “Spending more time free from meetings is more important than spending a whole day without them.”

Without meetings, the workers handled their to-do list on their own. Collaboration increased as workers connected with each other in person or via Slack, email or videoconference. There were also fewer misunderstandings, as people could refer to Slack messages to see what was decided, rather than incorrectly remembering the (perhaps vague) conclusion of an in-person meeting.

It cannot be said that all meetings are bad. Researchers say that too few meetings can be as bad as too many – the best thing to do is limit meetings to 1-2 days per week. If reaching that level requires a meeting-cost calculator, this is one calculation that will pay off.

Sarah Carmichael is Bloomberg Opinion Editor.

UPDATE: July 17, 2023, 01:04 AM IST