The Real Cost of Unproductive Meetings

STL Presents THE REAL COST OF UNPRODUCTIVE MEΕTINGS Whether you're a freelancer, a CEO or an entry-level employee, you're almost certainly familiar with the business meeting. The average employee spends hundreds of hours in meetings every year, and far too often, these meetings achieve very little. So, just how much are these unproductive meetings costing? We decided to find out, pulling together some of the most recent research into modern meetings to discover the real cost of unproductive meetings. THE FINANCIAL IMPACT On average, senior executives are spending more than two days per week in meetings, with a busy professional often attending more than 60 meetings per month. The cost of each of these meetings varies depending on the size of the company: FORTUNE 500-2000 FORTUNE 500 $547 $527 per meeting per meeting ΟTHER $412 per meeting Overall, this adds up to a huge cost across the whole of the United States: $37bn the annual salary cost of unnecessary meetings for US businesses $25,000,000 wasted every day on unnecessary meetings in the USA THE PRODUCTIVITY IMPACT The cost implications of wasteful meetings are clear, but how do these meetings affect staff time, morale and productivity? 50% of all meetings are considered wasteful of employees say they are concerned about other work responsibilities piling up while they are spending time in meetings. or unproductive over 60% Percentage of time spent in meetings: Upper management - 50% Middle management - 35% nearly of employees say they consider unproductive 50% meetings to be the biggest source of wasted time in the office. Average employee - 33.3% 73% 91% 96% 39% 45% of attendees do other work during meetings of people admit to daydreaming say they have missed meetings in the past admit that they have fallen asleep in a meeting feel overwhelmed by the number of meetings ALTERNATIVE APPROACHES Many companies are now taking steps to reduce the finanical impact of unproductive meetings, including limiting meeting times or implementing processes to improve efficiency: Linked in LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner's approach to ensuring meetings are short includes banning presentations. Instead, any materials in need of consideration must be emailed to all participants beforehand. amazon Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has a unique approach to ensuring meetings are purposeful by applying a simple rule: Don't plan a meeting in which two pizzas are not enough to feed everyone present. THE PERFECT MEETING I. It's rarely possible to have a truly productive and necessary meeting without any waste, but in order to ensure your meetings are as efficient as possible, we recommend the following: The meeting cannot be accomplished via other means (phone or email) Someone is responsible for making sure the agenda is followed There is a clear purpose and a pre-stated desired outcome All participants are fully involved, and they're able to speak honestly The meeting has a clear and pre-viewed agenda Action items and decisions are captured visually during the meeting Presentation materials are made The meeting ends either on time or before the scheduled end time available prior to the meeting Only participants crucial to the outcome are present A summary of key insights and action items are sent after the meeting The meeting is at a suitable time and place, and it starts on time There is a follow up mechanism to ensure all action items are completed Sources Produced by https://hbr.org/2016/01/estimate-the-cost-of-a-meeting-with-this-calculator https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/how-much-are-meetings-really-costing-your-company.html https://hbr.org/2014/05/your-scarcest-resource https://www.inc.com/laura-montini/infographic/the-ugly-truth-about-meetings.html http://instantagenda.com/ineffective-meetings-cost/ https://e-meetings.verizonbusiness.com/global/en/meetingsinamerica/uswhitepaper.php https://www.atlassian.com/time-wasting-at-work-infographic https://www.researchgate.net/publication/3889414_Meeting Analysis_Findings from_Research_and_Practice https://blog.rescuetime.com/true-cost-big-staff-meetings/ https://www.fastcompany.com/1660300/real-cost-hokling-meeting-sucks https://www.fastcompany.com/30s5461/meetings-waste-money-now-you-can-cakulate-just-h https://hbr.org/2014/04/how-a-weckly-meeting-took-up-300000-hours-a-year https://www.readytalk.com/meeting-resources/infographics/true-cost-meetings-infographic https://realbusiness.co.uk/hr-and-management/2017/12/31/time-management-mistakes-costing-companies-millions/ https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/jeff-bezos-surprising-meeting-strategy.html https://www.inc.com/larry-kim/how-linkedin-s-ceo-eliminates-useless-meetings.html STL -much