Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel News Europe
Business Travel News Europe
  • NEWSOpen Menu
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Sustainability
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
  • FEATURESOpen Menu
    • View All Features
  • CONVERSATIONSOpen Menu
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • The Traveller Experience Index
    • Spotlight Series: Air travel
    • Connected Content: The distribution report
    • Spotlight Series: Travel management companies
    • BTN Europe's 2023 Hotlist
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • Wheels in Motion
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • SUBSCRIBE
  • NEWSOpen Menu
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Sustainability
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
  • FEATURESOpen Menu
    • View All Features
  • CONVERSATIONSOpen Menu
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
  • RESOURCESOpen Menu
    • The Traveller Experience Index
    • Spotlight Series: Air travel
    • Connected Content: The distribution report
    • Spotlight Series: Travel management companies
    • BTN Europe's 2023 Hotlist
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • Wheels in Motion
  • EVENTSOpen Menu
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
  • SUBSCRIBE
Business Travel News Europe
  • Business Travel News Europe on Twitter
  • BTN Europe on LinkedIn
  • BTN Europe on Facebook
  • NEWS
    • Accommodation
    • Air Travel
    • Ground Transport
    • Management
    • Meetings
    • On the Move
    • Payment & Expense
    • Sustainability
    • Technology
    • TMC & Distribution
    • Travel Procurement
    • Recent Issues
    SubscribeBTN Europe NewsletterBTN Europe Magazine
  • FEATURES
    • View All Features
    BTN Europe traveller experience index cultural signalsCultural signals
    BTN Europe measuring the traveller experienceWhat is the measure of travel experience?
    BTN Europe traveller experience stop chasing the leisure experienceStop chasing the leisure experience

  • CONVERSATIONS
    • Interviews and Q&As
    • Guest columns
    • Podcasts
    • VIEW ALL CONVERSATIONS
    Interview: Bertrand Lacotte, board member, AFTMInterview: Bertrand Lacotte, board member, AFTM
    The ‘work from anywhere’ duty of care challengeThe ‘work from anywhere’ duty of care challenge
    Has China’s reopening lived up to the travel industry’s expectations?Has China’s reopening lived up to the travel industry’s expectations?
  • RESOURCES
    • The Traveller Experience Index
    • Spotlight Series: Air travel
    • Connected Content: The distribution report
    • Spotlight Series: Travel management companies
    • BTN Europe's 2023 Hotlist
    • Powered Up: The travel tech of today & tomorrow
    • The Future of Meetings
    • Smart Money: Cards, payments & expenses
    • The Journey Towards Sustainable Business Travel
    • Safety Measures: Risk, duty of care & wellbeing
    • Stepping It Up: Small & midsized travel programmes
    • Diversity, Equity & Inclusion in business travel
    • Business Travel Rebooted
    • New Horizons: The 2022 sourcing guide
    • Wheels in Motion
    Tools & ResourcesEurope's Leading TMCs 2022Booking tools – the essential guideTraveller Experience IndexTravel entry requirementsCorporate Travel Index EuropeBTN Europe podcastsBTSE Kick Off - CEO InterviewsRecent issues of BTN Europe
  • EVENTS
    • Webinars
    • Business Travel Show Europe
    • Business Travel Show Europe Kick Off
    • Business Travel Awards Europe
    • Business Travel Intelligence Summit Europe
    • Business Travel Accommodation Summit
    • Business Travel Tech Talk
    • Entertainment Travel Summit
    • Global Travel Risk Summit
    • Strategic Meetings Summit
    • Sustainable Business Travel Summit Europe
    • VIEW ALL EVENTS
    Business Travel Show Europe 2023

    28 - 29 June, ExCeL London

    4th Annual Business Travel Accommodations Summit Europe

    September 2023, In-Person

    7th Annual Global Travel Risk Summit Europe

    Global Travel Risk Summit Europe, September 2023,

  • SUBSCRIBE

Meetings

Pointless meetings' to cost $541bn in 2019

By Molly Dyson / 11 January 2019 / Contact Reporter

The average employee spends two hours a week in ‘pointless’ meetings, potentially costing companies around the world more than US$541 billion worth of resources in 2019.

These were the findings of meetings scheduling platform Doodle in its The State of Meetings Report 2019. The company examined data from 19 million meetings and commissioned interviews with more than 6,500 working professionals across the UK, Germany, Switzerland and the US.

The research found that the average worker spends three hours a week in meetings – meaning two-thirds of all meetings can be labelled a waste of time. Collectively, 24 billion hours will be lost to such gatherings over the next year.

More German professionals (74 per cent) reported regularly losing valuable working time to poorly organised meetings than those in the UK (72 per cent) or US (68 per cent).

Of the reasons they felt meetings were pointless, 89 per cent of respondents said they were ineffective or poorly organised, followed closely by conference calls with bad reception (88 per cent).

Respondents also pointed out common behaviours that lead to misused time during meetings, such as colleagues taking phone calls or texting (55 per cent), interrupting others (50 per cent), not listening to others and arriving late or leaving early (49 per cent each), and talking about nothing for long periods of time (46 per cent). Meanwhile, 24 per cent said they were irritated by colleagues eating during meetings, 21 per cent cited people who don’t contribute to the discussion and 9 per cent were annoyed by people taking notes on laptops.

More than a third (37 per cent) of those polled believe unnecessary meetings are the biggest cost to their organisation. An overwhelming 72 per cent said setting clear objectives is key to running efficient meetings, followed by 67 per cent who want a clear agenda.

When asked about the true cost of a wasted meeting, 44 per cent of those polled said they mean they don’t have enough time to do the rest of their work. Unclear actions lead to confusion for 43 per cent, while 38 per cent said poor organisation leads to a loss of focus on projects. Irrelevant attendees slowed progress for 31 per cent and 26 per cent believe inefficient processes weaken client and supplier relationships.

However, employees clearly still see overwhelming value in face-to-face meetings, with 76 per cent of respondents saying they prefer to meet in person rather than over the phone or through video conferencing.

Gabriele Ottino, CEO of Doodle, commented: “We commissioned this report because we wanted to have a better understanding of what makes a bad meeting, and how it affects people on a daily basis. What’s positive is that within the huge financial implications lie simple issues that can easily be fixed. Things like setting a clear agenda, only inviting relevant people and proper planning can be easily implemented, and if we stick to these principals there’s a clear opportunity to make a huge savings, cut wasted time and reduce irritation to employees – benefiting everyone.”

doodle.com

More Meetings
Related
London remains top European city for meetings and events London remains top European city for meetings and events
Cvent sees events sector ‘stabilise’ as demand returnsCvent’s revenue rises on return of face-to-face meetings
Casual business meetingHubli introduces service for internal meeting spaces

SPONSORED CONTENT

The workplace has changed. Does your travel & expense match up?
The workplace has changed. Does your travel & expense match up?By Cytric by Amadeus

Does your travel & expense match up?... KEEP READING

The eight trends shaping ground transportation
The eight trends shaping ground transportationBy Enterprise National

Eight emerging ground transportation priorities shaping business travel in 2022 and beyond... KEEP READING

More Meetings

London remains top European city for meetings and events
Cvent’s revenue rises on return of face-to-face meetings
Hubli introduces service for internal meeting spaces
CWT launches meetings and events carbon calculator

VIEW ALL
  • Most Read
  • Most Shared
  1. Winners of inaugural Business Travel Sustainability Awards Europe announced
  2. London remains top European city for meetings and events
  3. France formally bans some domestic flights
  4. Independent TMCs ‘outperforming’ the wider market
  5. Heathrow faces summer disruption as pay dispute ‘escalates’
Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel News Europe
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • EDITORIAL CALENDAR
  • Business Travel Show Europe
  • Business Travel News Europe on Twitter
  • BTN Europe on LinkedIn
  • BTN Europe on Facebook
BUSINESS TRAVEL NEWS EUROPE
NORTHSTAR TRAVEL GROUP
Business Travel News
  • About us
  • Contact us
  • Advertise
  • Editorial calendar
  • Editorial guidelines
  • Subscribe to BTN Europe
  • Subscribe to BTN U.S.
  • Subscribe to Travel Procurement
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & conditions
Northstar Travel Group
  • Corporate travel
  • Business Travel Show
  • Business Travel Awards
  • BTN U.S.
  • The Beat
  • Travel Procurement

  • Travel Technology
  • Travel Tech Show
  • Phocuswire
  • Phocuswright
  • Intelliguide
  • Meetings & incentives
  • M&IT
  • AMI
  • ConventionSource
  • M&IT Awards

  • Retail travel
  • Travel Weekly
  • Travel Pulse

  • Northstar Travel Group
  • View all Northstar brands
BTNGroup
Business Travel News EuropeBusiness Travel NewsTravel ProcurementThe BeatBusiness Travel Show Europe
Northstar Travel Group
Copyright ©2022, Northstar Travel Media Ltd, The Epworth, 25 City Road, London EC1Y 1AA, UK
RRManagement rrtestprocurement