E-Commerce firm Shopify is canceling all small recurring meetings and encouraging employees to say no to other meetings to boost employee engagement.
Key Details
- Shopify is canceling all recurring meetings with more than two people to shrink meeting hours and increase employee engagement.
- According to France’s NEOMA Business School research, no-meeting policies can boost productivity and reduce employee stress.
- Employees spend about 18 hours a week on average in meetings and would prefer to back out of 31% of them, according to a Bloomberg survey.
- Cutting back on meetings will boost both engagement and productivity.
Why it’s news
Large, unproductive meetings are a popular thing among hybrid workplaces, and e-commerce firm Shopify is stopping it.
Shopify is canceling all recurring meetings with more than two people, canceling all Wednesday meetings, and encouraging employees to say no to meeting invites.
The e-commerce firm is limiting meetings to a 6-hour window on Thursdays and encouraging employees not to conduct meetings unless necessary.
Employees spend about 18 hours a week on average in meetings, only backing out of 14% when they would prefer to back out 31% of them, according to a Bloomberg survey.
Companies with too many or poorly conducted meetings have been linked to poor employee engagement and productivity and have made more employees feel inclined to quit.
Many employees would instead use their time to work instead of attending a meeting that could potentially be of no use to them or their job.
“Over the years, we’ve seen excess meetings creep back into our day-to-day,” says Shopify’s vice president of product and chief operating officer Kaz Nejatian. “We know no one joined Shopify to sit in meetings.”
Companies with no-meeting policies have seen a boost in employee productivity and less stress in the workplace, which is what Shopify is hoping for with its change.
