Employees call for an end to boring meetings

UK employees think over a third of face-to-face business meetings are a waste of time, according to a major new survey of over 2,200 people.

The YouGov study found that the average UK worker attends 91 face-to-face business meetings a year and regards 37 percent of these as unnecessary. The survey also found that many employees are not engaged with the meetings they do attend, with over half admitting to thinking about work they need to do back in the office when at meetings.

A significant minority of those surveyed also argued that a reduction in the number of face-to-face meetings would improve both their productivity and their work-life balance. A fifth wished to cut the number of international business trips they take and nearly a quarter claimed fewer meetings would reduce their stress levels.

Bert van der Zwan, vice president of Europe, Middle East and Africa at web conferencing software specialist WebEx, said that with less than five percent of meetings currently taking place online, the survey was evidence that many firms are increasingly failing to meet employee demands for an online alternative to face-to-face meetings. "UK businesses need to wake up to the fact that overloading their employees with unnecessary meetings is not only damaging the environment, it’s reducing productivity, increasing stress levels and creating a poor work-life balance," he added.

Speaking at a separate round table on the environmental benefits of online conferencing earlier today, Paul Gullet, president for Europe, Middle East and Africa at video conferencing specialist Tandberg, agreed there is growing employee pressure on firms to embrace online meeting technologies. " People understand these technologies work in the consumer environment and they are starting to demand them in the business," he observed.

Dominic Hook, director of ICT at trade union Amicus, which has deployed video conferencing facilities at over 40 of its offices, said that the organisation has seen a range of employee and operational benefits since installing the technology. He added that the main motivation for the project was improving employees' work-life balance, but identified "great side benefits" in the form of reduced costs and carbon emissions, and improved productivity. "We have offices in Aberdeen and staff travelling to London for a two-hour meeting is a big drain on productivity," he explained.

Experts agreed that a sea change in attitude among over-worked business executives means business trips that were previously regarded as a perk are now increasingly seen as a chore. Consequently, employees are increasingly willing to embrace online meetings. "Those flying around with their platinum and gold cards are the definition of a sad life," commented Paul Bradley, director of collaboration solutions at HP. "They don’t want to get in planes; they want a technology solution that means they can avoid business travel."