When Jaw-Jaw is a Bore-Bore

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A survey published this week shows that UK workers spend up to 30% of their working week in status meetings plus additional time for preparing for them.

The survey by Clarizen, a specialist in collaborative work management software, indicated that there was a possible overload for UK workers in these meetings when they could be more productively employed in more ‘useful’ work.

The 30% figure of their working period assumes a 40-hour week preparing for and attending status meetings – on average 11.5 hours per week. Preparing for these meetings often took as long as the meetings themselves. On top of that 65% who participate in conference calls report that they multitask during these calls. Additionally, 90% of those who work with teams in multiple locations report being frustrated, most often by communication issues such as keeping everyone in the ‘loop’ (20%) and communicating with the team (15%).

The latest Clarizen survey, conducted online by Harris Poll among over 2,200 employed adults ages 18 plus across the UK, the U.S. and Australia, found that:

• 63% of employed adults in the UK attend status meetings for updates on specific projects, spending on average 4 hours a week in these meetings.

• 62% of employed adults in the UK attend general status meetings, spending on average 3.7 hours a week in them.

• 59% of UK employees spend time preparing for status meetings each week, spending an average of 3.8 hours each week preparing for status meetings

• 65% of those who participate in conference calls with colleagues admit to taking care of other work-related or personal tasks while on mute during conference calls, 24% respond to work e-mails, 19% p eat lunch, 13% take care of personal e-mail, 11% visit the toilet and 7% exercise.

“Over three years of studying status meetings in the U.S., the results have consistently shown that they substantially decrease the amount of time and energy workers can devote to completing actual, meaningful work and this appears to be so in the UK as well,” explained Paul Roberts, GM, Europe, Middle East and Africa, Clarizen. “Answers that result in productive, collaborative work can make a dramatic impact on the efficiency of teams by focusing meetings on strategy and planning versus boring status updates.”
Picture: Status meetings could be wasting useful time and effort according to a Clarion survey

Article written by Cathryn Ellis

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