Status meetings don't help productivity: Survey

Preparation often takes longer than meeting itself

Company status meetings — that provide updates for team members on completed and active work tasks — don't contribute to work productivity, according to a survey by Clarizen, a software company. Only 30 per cent of information workers feel status meetings help them accomplish work tasks and almost 40 per cent of respondents believe status meetings are a waste of time, according to the survey of 2,373 adults in the United States.

Two-thirds (67 per cent) of information workers spend between one to four hours per week just preparing for status meetings, while four out of 10 of those respondents feel prepping for and attending status meetings is the largest obstacle to efficiently completing work.

"Status meetings aren't an effective use of people's time. Today's enterprises and knowledge workers need the right tools to focus, rather than spending hours preparing updates about their work," said Avinoam Nowogrodski, co-founder and CEO of Clarizen.

Additional survey findings:

59 per cent of information workers said preparing for a status meeting often takes longer than the meeting itself.
• 55 per cent of information workers spend one to three hours attending status meetings for general purposes.
• 57 per cent of information workers indicated they multi-task during status meetings.
• 62 per cent of information workers believe collaborating with colleagues helps them accomplish their work tasks.

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