Meetings kill productivity: several companies have eliminated them three days a week and increased their performance by 73%

The issue of meetings worries many large businessmen. At Xataka we have previously talked about the rules that leaders of the technology sector such as Jeff Bezos, Steve Jobs or Elon Musk set for this type of meeting in their companies. All of them, after years running large corporations, agree on one aspect: in general there are too many or they last too long, and this seriously harms productivity of his subordinates. In fact, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX has gone so far as to say that excessive meetings are “the plague” of large companies.

Now, a study by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT, for its acronym in English) confirms what these businessmen already pointed out, that the excess of meetings kills the productivity of companies. The investigation offers concrete figures: the companies that completely eliminated these encounters three days a week increased their productivity by 73%, reduced employee stress by 57%, and improved overall satisfaction by 65%.

The study authors point out that, although it may seem counterintuitive, meetings detract from effective collaboration, because distract workers in their most productive hours, which causes them to lose concentration and reduce their performance. Instead, they point out, when those same employees used communication and management tools, such as Slack or Microsoft Teams, they connected better without losing focus or becoming stressed.

The study also explains that by using written communication tools to eliminate meetings several days a week, misunderstandings reduced, because the resolutions and instructions were collected in texts that those involved could consult whenever they wanted.

For this study, some 76 companies with more than 1,000 employees were surveyed and asked to completely eliminate meetings a certain number of days a week, from one to five, for 12 months. The researchers found that the benefits of not having meetings progressively increased in those who had one to three days off of these meetings, and that after four days without them the advantages were reduced.

Therefore, the authors have concluded that the optimal number of meeting-free days per week is three, leaving the other two for meetings that are essential. The researchers point out that with this number of days without meetings, the maximum potential for productivity and well-being associated with this measure is reached.

Informal meetings

The study admits that meetings are a good opportunity to socialize, but that those that are purely professional and formal are not a natural form of communication between human beings. For this reason, he points out that it is a good idea to use written communication tools for professional matters and bet more on informal personal encounters, without an agenda, to satisfy the need to interact with other members of the company.

Research also reveals that it is beneficial to share leisure equipment through professional communication channels such as memes, current affairs, sports, vacation plans and emojis, as they help to bring team members closer and allow them to express themselves as they are.

Finally, the researchers recommend that in formal meetings set a clear agenda and goals, which will ensure that those responsible have prepared it thoroughly and the attendees have material before attending, in such a way that they already handle the basic information and the conversation focuses on important issues.