UK workers spend 30% of their week in status meetings

Clarizen, producer of collaborative work management software, recently announced survey results that show UK workers spend as much as 30% of their working week (assuming a 40-hour week) preparing for and attending status meetings – on average 11.5 hours per week.

Preparing for these meetings often takes as long as the meetings themselves. 65% of UK workers who participate in conference calls report that they multitask during these calls. Additionally, 90% of those who work with teams in multiple locations report being frustrated, most often by communication issues such as keeping everyone in the loop (20%) and communicating with the team (15%). The survey found that:

• 63% of employed adults in the UK attend status meetings for updates on specific projects, spending on average four hours a week in these meetings
• 62% of employed adults in the UK attend general status meetings, spending on average 3.7 hours a week in these meetings
• 59% of UK employees spend time preparing for status meetings each week, spending an average of 3.8 hours preparing for status meetings
• 65% of those who participate in conference calls with colleagues admit to taking care of other work-related or personal tasks whilst on mute during conference calls; 24% respond to work emails, 19% eat lunch, 13% take care of personal emails and 11% visit the loo; 7% exercise.

Other facts to come out of the survey include:

• 37% of employed adults in the UK selected “collaborative” as their ideal workplace culture, while 18% chose a “hierarchical” structure
• Workers who participate in conference calls in the UK are more focused on those conference calls than those in the US: 65% of those in the UK and Australia admit to multitasking while on mute, while 74% of those in the US admit doing so
• 37% say they wait on average more than five minutes for everyone to join the call.