New research released today has looked into the real feelings of Brits when faced with a stark choice – either go to the dentist or attend back-to-back working meetings.

A whopping 61% said that they would pick a date with the dentist instead of having to attend consecutive work meetings (either virtual or in-person), according to a survey which was commissioned by Otter.ai and conducted by 3Gem.

However, there did appear to be a clear divide among some of the UK’s major cities.

In fact, Sunderland’s workers (at 83%) were most likely in the UK to opt for having some dentistry done, followed closely by Coventry and Walsall (80% each).

By contrast, workers in Derby (62%) favoured back-to-back meetings, instead of having their teeth looked at by the dentist.  

The reason why

The data also delved into the reason why the majority of Brits would rather have a brush with the dentist, suggesting that it could be down to the impact back-to-back work meetings have.

In fact, workers admitted that two meetings in a row were most likely to make them feel low on energy, with over a third (37%) experiencing this sensation, followed by a sense of stress (31%) and distraction (18%). 

Commenting on the findings of the survey, Sam Liang, Co-Founder & CEO of Otter.ai, said: “The fact that Brits choose the dentist over back-to-back meetings clearly shows that meetings need to be adapted to suit our new working environment, whether that is fundamentally changing their structure or empowering employees with productivity and collaboration tools that help with real-time meeting notes.

“Meetings can be productive and helpful but they should meet employees where they’re at. Employees now demand a flexible, collaborative and hybrid work set up that meets the new work-life balance and changing attitudes created by working from home for such a long period.” 

How to make meetings better

With a large portion of employees stating that they would rather go to the dentist than attend back-to-back work meetings, it is important that employers and HR think about how they can improve meetings.

One way to achieve this is to ensure that each meeting has a set goal or agenda so that all talking points are covered but also in a timely manner.

In addition to this, driving participation is key. Jim Szafranski, CEO of software development company Prezi, previously told LinkedIn about the “popcorn” strategy.

This is when the meeting leader randomly calls on a person to contribute and once that person is done, they call on someone else to participate.

HR Grapevine

November 2021