- Excessive meetings drain time and energy, lowering productivity and employee morale across industries.
- Asynchronous tools can help teams collaborate without constant scheduling.
- Shorter, focused meetings improve outcomes and respect employee time more effectively than traditional formats.
“This meeting could have been an email.”
It’s so cliché because we’ve all thought it at least once…maybe once a week. Meetings were once considered essential to teamwork, but today, many professionals see them mostly as productivity killers.
With so many work calendars jammed from morning to evening, it’s no wonder employees are asking if all this talk is really helping them get things done.
The average employee now spends nearly 18 hours a week in meetings, according to a report by Otter.AI. According to Harvard Business Review, most workers believe those meetings keep them from being productive. Many are too long, too frequent, and too unfocused.
Instead of moving projects forward, they interrupt deep work and lead to frustration and burnout.
The problem isn’t collaboration itself, but it is how we’re going about it. Meetings that lack structure or purpose eat into the very time teams need for thinking, creating, and doing. In modern hybrid and remote-first workplaces, this problem is even more visible. People are constantly toggling between calls, platforms, and tasks, yet still struggling to feel connected or productive.
When Meetings Hurt More Than They Help
A meeting without a clear reason is just another obligation. Employees often sit through discussions that could have been handled by email, a shared document, or a quick message. Too many participants, vague goals, and no follow-up? That’s a recipe for wasted time.
Hybrid teams face added challenges; in-room participants tend to dominate the conversation, while remote colleagues get sidelined. This leads to uneven engagement and reduced input from across the team.
All of this affects morale, because workers feel their time isn’t respected. Projects slow down. Creativity gets buried under an avalanche of recurring calls.
Smarter Collaboration Strategies
Getting rid of meetings entirely isn’t the answer, but being thoughtful about when and why we meet can make a huge difference. Here are some effective alternatives that help teams stay connected without draining their energy:
1. Embrace asynchronous communication
Use tools like Slack or Teams to share updates, feedback, or questions. These platforms let people contribute when it works best for them. No need to coordinate schedules or sit through another status call.
2. Keep meetings short and focused
Try capping meetings at 15 to 30 minutes. Come in with an agenda and stick to it. Make sure every attendee has a reason to be there and knows what’s expected. End with clear action items, not just discussion.
3. Challenge every invite
Before scheduling a meeting, ask yourself: Is this essential? Could it be a written update instead? Encourage your team to say no when meetings aren’t directly useful to them, and create space for real work to get done.
4. Lean into collaborative tech
Use platforms like Trello or Google Docs to work together in real time or on your own schedule. These tools help teams brainstorm, plan, and make decisions without needing to meet live.
Respecting Time Is Respecting People
When leaders treat time as a valuable resource, employees feel it. Protecting focus time and reducing unnecessary meetings shows respect for people’s attention and ideas, and helps build a culture that values results over appearances.
Meetings will always have a place in the workplace, but they don’t need to dominate it. The most effective teams today are those that find ways to collaborate that are leaner, smarter, and more respectful of everyone’s time.
