Bosses say nearly half of meetings should disappear

By Matthew Boyle, Bloomberg

Tired of attending useless meetings? Turns out, your boss is probably sick of them, too.

Executives spend an average of 25 hours a week in meetings, yet nearly half of those Zoom calls and project updates could disappear without any negative impact, according to a survey of more than 10,000 desk workers by Future Forum, a research consortium backed by Salesforce Inc.-owned Slack Technologies. The top reason why business leaders go to unproductive meetings is that they thought it would be a good use of time, but ultimately wasn’t. They also attend because they’re afraid to miss something important, and to show their own manager they’re working, the survey found. For those lower down the corporate ladder, the most common reason for showing up is obvious: They don’t have a choice.

The findings come as many organizations try to assess which meetings really matter, and which ones could be jettisoned in an increasingly hybrid workplace where staffers aren’t typically all in the same location. Shopify Inc., the Canadian e-commerce site, said it’s on track to eliminate 320,000 hours of meetings this year by ending all recurring meetings with more than two people, forbidding meetings on Wednesday, and limiting big gatherings, along with encouraging staff to decline some invites.