A new report based on a survey of 2,000 hybrid and remote employees reveals that 59 per cent of workers believe that the number of hours they spend in meetings each week could be reduced.

The white paper titled ‘Zoomed In, Zoned Out' has been released by Craft Docs, the company building the future of documents, and reports on hybrid and remote workers' attitudes towards business meetings and other daily workplace processes in 2023.

Hybrid and remote working has become the norm for many businesses post-pandemic, with many companies solely relying on online meetings, task management tools and collaboration tools for day-to-day business operations.

However, are businesses with remote and hybrid working models being as productive as they can be? This new data explores how meetings have been affected by remote working and how employees perceive them.

Findings revealed that whilst hybrid and remote employees spend just over 4 hours on average per week in meetings, 59 per cent believe this time could be reduced.

Almost three quarters (74 per cent) said sharing written status updates and important information ahead of the meeting would help reduce the number of hours spent in meetings each week.

70 per cent of respondents also stated that using ‘collaboration tools to communicate asynchronously instead' could also help to reduce the amount of time spent in meetings, alongside ‘creating meeting agendas ahead of time' (56 per cent) and ‘limiting the number of attendees per meeting' (54 per cent).

Furthermore, almost three quarters of those who attend meetings believe they have attended at least one meeting within the last two weeks that could have instead been communicated via an email or other kind of written communication (72 per cent).

A spokesperson for Craft Docs comments:

"Every hour spent in a meeting is an hour that team members aren't completing tasks, brainstorming ideas, or engaging in deep work.

"While collaboration is essential, it's crucial to strike a balance between coming together and individual productivity. With 60 per cent of workers saying they could spend less time in meetings each week, and 72 per cent saying at least one recent meeting could have been an email, there's still work to be done to get this balance right.

"It's important that teams invest in collaboration tools that support asynchronous communication. Look for features that allow for easy status updates, threaded discussions, and ways to integrate with the other tools you use, alongside incorporating meeting agendas prior to meetings taking place."

For more information, please see the report in full: https://www.craft.do/resources/download/meetings-report.