Unproductive meetings cost the UK economy £582m a week

The cost of overrun meetings on the UK economy comes to a staggering £582 million a week, according to a new study.

One thousand office workers from a range of sectors across the UK were questioned to help office technology specialists, Altodigital, better understand how workplace meetings can be adapted and made more efficient, thus increasing productivity.

Out of the study’s participants, more than two-thirds (68%) regularly hold at least five meetings a week, with a surprising 70% of respondents revealing they often overrun by up to half an hour. This was calculated against the average annual wage and multiplied by the current working population to work out its effect on the economy.

The study also revealed that the majority of UK meetings are anything but efficient, with 28% of respondents regularly attending ‘unnecessary’ meetings and almost half (43%) saying that they have been to a meeting and actually not contributed anything at all. With many UK companies fearing that the economy will take a hit after Brexit, firms will now be under increased pressure to be more productive and save money.

Group Marketing Manager at Altodigital, Alistair Millar, commented: “Unproductive meetings are an element of business that affects every sector and industry, but is something that can be easily avoided. Using office technology such as video conferencing, conference calls and interactive smartboards, as well as using some of these top productivity tips, could increase the speed and efficiency of meetings, not to mention cut down on extended periods of travel time.

 “Although often unproductive, meetings are necessary to build strong relationships and keep up-to-date with particular projects, and we hope that our research will help people to put productive measures into place and discover how we can help the UK become more efficient and spend time doing the work that will make money – rather than holding meetings about it.”

And it’s often not just the meeting itself that can be a waste of productivity – the travel time to meetings is also a major factor. More than a third of UK employees questioned (34%) said they travel between one and six hours to attend a meeting, with 66% of respondents driving to meetings instead of taking the train, which could enable them to work en route – that is, should a seat be available.

Although unproductive meetings are considered to be a drain on UK businesses, it isn’t something that is regularly tackled, with nearly a quarter of people (23%) admitting that they don’t use technology in meetings at all, only 38% use conference calls facilities and 35% video conferences. Other time-saving suggestions include: holding meetings at a desk instead of meeting rooms (29%); setting a timer to stick to pre-agreed meeting times (24%); implementing refreshment-free meetings (23%); and holding meetings standing rather than sitting (18%).