SHOCK REPORT: MEETINGS WASTE TIME

(June, 2014) Meetings are supposed to be an efficient way for people to get together and discuss ideas and work out strategies. More likely, people talk, ideas disappear and there’s never any follow-up. According to Shortlist.com, here are some statistics about how workers waste an inordinate amount of time in meetings:
– Middle managers spend 35% of their time in meetings.
– Upper managers spend 50% of their time in meetings.
– Workers spend up to 4 hours per week preparing for meetings.
– 92% of workers multitask during meetings – doing things other than paying attention to the meeting.
– 69% admit to checking email during a meeting.
* Is this true at your job? Better have a meeting to investigate.
* By the way, this story was approved for air at yesterday’s meeting.
* This makes a pretty good case for the 3-day workweek. Eliminate all meetings and let everyone go home on Wednesday.
* Let’s be fair: meetings have done wonders for the art of doodling.
* Not to mention silently flirting with people who are just as bored as you are.
* Here’s why meetings exist: So when something goes wrong, nobody can say “I didn’t know anything about that!”
* Thanks, Shortlist.com. As if “Dilbert” hasn’t been talking about this for the past 30 years.
* PHONE TOPIC: What’s the worst thing you’ve been able to get away with during a meeting, or a phone conference?