Yet they're becoming more common. Meetings escalated especially noticeably when the Covid pandemic hit American workplaces in 2020, according to aRogerson pitched her bosses on meeting-free Wednesdays — just for their own schedules, not as a company-wide initiative — so they could regroup, catch up on work and plan for the second half of the week.
Just one no-meeting day per week leads to improved employee engagement, satisfaction and autonomy — plus decreased stress and reports of micromanagement — according to aBut making these no-meeting days work is a bit more complex than simply banning meetings from your Wednesday calendars, Rogerson says. You might not end up with fewer meetings on your weekly calendar, either — and, turns out, that's perfectly fine.For Rogerson, the lesson isn't necessarily to hold fewer meetings.
That means making sure everyone knows why they're there, and what they're contributing. Is the focus brainstorming and idea generation? Are you planning for an upcoming event? Is this just for team bonding? "Let's be really intentional about our time, versus just seeing meetings as the enemy," Rogerson says.Meeting-free days aren't the perfect solution for every workplace, Rogerson says. Indeed, you can probably implement her advice about prioritizing meetings without nixing a day from the calendar.— or any workplace spread across multiple offices, for that matter — might need daily meetings to help keep co-workers communicating with each other.