Meetings more trouble than valuable

UK companies are squandering thousands of pounds every day simply by holding unnecessary internal meetings that waste workers? time.

According to a new survey, many managers are unaware of smarter ways of working, meaning that employees are often dragged away from their work and into useless over-long meetings for hours at a time, with an obvious detriment to productivity and profits.

Office workers have told employment law consultancy Protecting.co.uk of their fiendish schemes to avoid them because, as one put-upon worker notes, ?life?s too short to take minutes?.

Here is a selection of the excuses that employees have used.
? One boss says: ?I always have standing meetings wherever possible. On top of that, they?re held at a quarter to one, which concentrates minds on getting out in time for lunch.?

? Another manager adds: ?I once jokingly said that the next person to ask a stupid question would be sacked. There were no more questions, ever.?

? Office worker Alan comments: ?I convinced my boss that I suffer from a fatigue-based illness and I?m likely to fall asleep in long meetings, so she keeps them short for the good of my health. Sometimes, I?m not even invited.?

? Jasmine notes: ?Always make sure that you?ve got a more important, imaginary meeting to go to at the same time. Be creative, it never fails.?

? And Steve confesses: ?I always use the conferencing gear at my desk for meetings, even if it?s only in the room next door. My boss commended me for my multi-tasking abilities, but in reality I?m on Facebook while everybody else is getting bored.?