According to a new study, too many meetings are an unwelcome inconvenience for workers and a financial burden for employers:
- 46% of respondents say they have way too many unnecessary meetings on their calendars.
- Employees say they spend about 18 hours in meetings, with only about 11 of those they consider to be crucial. Overall, professionals spend about a third of their working hours in meetings.
- Employees believe that they could skip about 5 meetings as long as they are kept in the loop about issues involved.
- 53% of employees say they feel like they “need” to attend meetings they’re invited to, even when they aren’t critical to the agenda.
- Most workers say their managers/supervisors have never talked to them about what meetings they are required to attend and when they can decline invitations.
- Payroll spends about $25,000 per employee annually for them to attend meetings that are unnecessary.
- Companies with 100 employees could be wasting up to $2.5 million a year on meetings. Companies with 5,000 workers or more could be losing as much as $123 million.
