Microsoft's Workplace Productivity Research

Microsoft's Workplace Productivity Research

According to the survey conducted by Microsoft company with 31 thousand employees worldwide between February and March 2023, the most important factor that reduces the productivity of employees in the workplace is; inefficient, unnecessary, and over-organized meetings. According to the company's report, regardless of how they work remotely or face-to-face, about two out of three people report that they can't find the time and energy to do their job because of meetings and e-mails at work. 58 percent of the participants said that it is difficult to brainstorm in a virtual meeting, and 55 percent said that they think the action items determined after any meeting are often vague and incomprehensible.

The remote working model, which was adopted during the COVID-19 epidemic, also increased the number of meetings held. Microsoft's research has revealed that since February 2020, employees are making 3x more Microsoft Teams meetings and calls per week at work. The busiest Teams users spend close to 8 hours a week in online-only meetings.

Colette Stallbaumer, an executive at Microsoft; said that when meetings are long, poorly managed, and do not have a clear purpose, they become a source of stress for both employees and managers.

On the other hand, in recent months, some companies have taken new decisions regarding meeting policies. In January, Shopify announced that it was canceling all recurring meetings with three or more people, and also banning all meetings on Wednesdays. As a result, the average time employees spend in meetings decreased by 33 percent in just the first two months of 2023, and the company expects its teams to complete 25 percent more projects this year than last year.

In July 2022, TechSmith, a Michigan-based software development firm, did not meet for a month and instead used only communication methods such as Slack, Trello, and email for coordination between teams. It was reported that the productivity of people who all work from home during the “meeting-free period” increased by 15 percent.