In Microsoft, there is growing concern as a recent internal study revealed a concerning trend among employees. The study showed that different departments are spending more time in meetings than they are on actual work tasks. This has led to a situation where some of the most efficient employees are only able to start their work after the regular workday has ended.
According to the study, there has been a staggering 153% increase in meetings compared to 2016. This rise in meetings has been identified as counterproductive to the overall well-being of employees. Many workers are finding themselves bogged down by numerous meetings throughout their 9-5 workday, causing them to save their actual tasks for after-hours.
The rise in meetings can be attributed in part to the shift to remote work brought on by the pandemic. Casual office interactions that used to take place in person are now being replaced by virtual meetings on platforms like Zoom, Google Meet, Teams, or Skype. What once may have been a quick question to a nearby colleague now requires a scheduled meeting lasting at least 20 minutes.
Jared Spataro, a vice president at Microsoft specializing in artificial intelligence, expressed concern over the current state of affairs, stating, I think we’ve reached the peak of maximum human inefficiency in administrative work. He emphasized the need to eliminate unnecessary meetings to allow employees to focus on their actual work or to reduce meeting hours to provide more time for leisure.
A statistical analysis conducted by Microsoft found that employees spend 57% of their workday on communication activities such as meetings, reading emails, or chatting, with only 43% of their time dedicated to actual work tasks. Spataro remains optimistic about implementing changes to address this issue for the benefit of employees and the organization as a whole.
