The introduction of days without meetings helps to increase the productivity of companies. Numerous meetings reduce labor efficiency. They slow down the pace of work, taking away productive time from employees
Reducing the number of meetings is an effective tool in the work of companies. This is the conclusion of the authors of the article “The amazing effect of days without meetings” – professors Ben Laker (University of Reading), Vijay Pereira (Neoma Business School) and Ashish Malik (Newcastle University). The researchers conducted a survey among 76 international companies, each of which employs more than 1 people. All participants have already included days without meetings in their schedule (from one to five days, often with a ban on meetings even in a one-on-one format). Scientists assessed the autonomy of workers, their communication with each other, involvement, cooperation, satisfaction with the results, micromanagement, stress level, productivity.
My own manager
Work schedule optimization is one of the key management tasks. And the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem of time planning. The desire of companies to introduce remote vacancies, the emergence of hybrid work formats have led to an increase in meetings. And it’s not just organizational difficulties and online administration: it was necessary to compensate for the lack of communication between employees. According to researchers, more than 85% of the time knowledge workers today spend on various meetings and meetings. Such a schedule negatively affects both their emotional state and the performance of companies.
Many successful managers now rely on the work of employees at a pace that is comfortable for them. This, for example, explains the introduction of special days without meetings (meeting-free days) in such giant companies as Meta.
Using project management tools, the ability to replace collective meetings with one-on-one communication, finding a time convenient for all participants – a flexible approach to managing and building processes turned out to be more effective than traditional scheduled meetings.
Survey participants noted the positive impact of days without meetings on the quality of work and interaction with colleagues, as well as a decrease in stress and micromanagement. Autonomy and productivity indicators reached 74-88%. The psychological perception of the work process has also changed. The feeling of self-confidence and greater autonomy in work favorably affected the microclimate of the company. The growth of responsibility for their work also led to an increase in satisfaction with their results, the establishment of trusting relationships in teams.
Scientists have also noted a curious communicative effect of days without meetings. For example, in companies where there were 4 days a month free from meetings, communication became more effective by 65%. Employees were much less likely to refer to a misunderstood task or inaccurate wording of colleagues. Employees have the opportunity to quickly understand the tasks, immediately double-check the information and compare it with the project plan.
Fine line of freedom
Despite the impressive results, the authors of the study warn against mindless redrawing of work schedules. The law of diminishing returns can negate the effectiveness of this approach. In each case, the company’s management needs to focus on its tasks and features of work.
The benefits of skipping meetings wear off after a 60% reduction in meetings.
And when meetings are taken completely off the schedule, key metrics such as productivity, engagement, collaboration, and satisfaction drop. The meeting format helps to maintain communication in the team and manage the progress of projects. This is especially important during self-isolation: the organization of general meetings becomes a tool for maintaining social ties between employees.
Analyzing the experience of the respondent companies, the authors of the article suggest consulting with the team before introducing changes to the established schedule. Effectively encourage informal communication among employees by diverting the discussion of news, memes and plans to internal communication resources. Direct messaging platforms (e.g. Slack, Teams) take away some of the workload.
By creating a new interaction architecture, it is important for management to help employees adapt to new standards. Each meeting should have a clear agenda and expected outcome. Ill-considered meetings should be excluded from the workflow, concentrating on the effective use of employees’ time. Distribution of roles in meetings, as well as sending key messages after meetings, remain useful tools.
Not by Zoom alone
Dealing with the schedule of general meetings, you have to remember about their formats. During the pandemic, scientists began to talk seriously about Zoom fatigue and began to study the phenomenon of the platform, which took off in 5 months from 10 to 300 million users. Scientists at Stanford and Gothenburg Universities even introduced the Zoom Exhaustion & Fatigue Scale to measure negative reactions to online conferences.
Professor Jeremy Bailenson drew attention to the non-verbal overload experienced by participants in remote meetings. We are talking about such factors as reducing the distance between the participants, the abundance of faces on the screen, and intent glances throughout the meeting.
Zoom makes it harder for people to read non-verbal cues, which also leads to tension. In addition, we have to put in more effort just to participate in online meetings: from a static posture in front of the camera, to the volume of our voice (scientists have noted that people during video conferences speak 15% louder than in normal life). Finally, Zoom becomes essentially an electronic mirror for users. Involuntary constant observation of oneself is a phenomenon that knows no analogues in the history of media and, most likely, the history of mankind as a whole. And this is only a non-verbal part of the whole complex of stress factors that online communication provokes.
Don’t interrupt me
In an environment of constant work interruption and distractions, deep thinking time is critical, says Heidi Reim, a geneticist and author of the article “New Year’s resolution: one week free from meetings per quarter.” Avoiding meetings is essential to productivity. In her experiment, the professor gave her research team a week per quarter free of meetings. This time was devoted to priority projects, writing grants or finding innovative solutions.
A similar experience is used by scientists in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Participants of the experiment talk about the additional opportunity to immerse themselves in large projects and generate new solutions.
At the same time, the very idea that meetings eat up our productive hours appeared long before the pandemic reality. In 2017, Harvard Business School professor Leslie Perlow interviewed 182 executives from various industries: two-thirds of the respondents admitted. that meetings prevent them from diving deep into work and completing their own tasks.
Whether it’s a meeting-free week, day/days, or specific daily hours—whatever the system, it’s important to think it through for your tasks, schedules, and goals. And don’t forget to keep track of other distractions (like checking email and social media).
Legal personal time
Not only new process management models, but also legislative initiatives are working to strengthen the autonomy of employees. The constant presence online, which increases the anxiety and stress levels of workers, has led to the enshrinement of the right to disconnect from electronic work. Following France, such a right was given by Ireland, Canada, Spain. This experience was analyzed by University of Guelph professors Jamie Gruman and Nita Chinzer.
Laws like these are a living reaction to the modern notion that an employee should always be available. They set the time window when an employee should be available and the hours they may not be available.
This approach takes into account the individual characteristics of employees: the time of their personal productivity, family circumstances, lifestyle. The need to recharge the battery may be necessary, for example, after a series of energy-consuming meetings and meetings. This system helps not only to temporarily distract from work, but also to maintain a balance between work and personal life.
The study showed that employees who can create their own schedule are more involved in the life of companies and demonstrate innovative approaches to tasks. And autonomy in decision-making, choice of place or methods of work reduces nervous tension, improves health.