Meetings are Bad For You

19061969 writes "Though this is obvious to most of us, your PHB's might benefit from knowing that meetings are bad for you. Two psychologists have found evidence that the number of and the time spent in meetings has a detrimental effect on mood. "...a general relationship between meeting load and the employee's level of fatigue and subjective workload was found", write the authors after conducting a diary study. Perhaps we should be more understanding with our moody bosses?"

Comments

Memo from your PHB

[Tx]

Memo from your PHB

We need to have a meeting to discuss these findings!

Re:Memo from your PHB

[Anonymous Coward]

Agenda:

1. Mad dash to grab the last available seat.
2. Fiddle with starfish phone to find status of people conferencing in.
3. Figure out how to get slide projector to work.
4. Shoo away the person at the door looking for the sales meeting, after a brief standoff.
5. Show PowerPoint slides starting with new org chart
6. Ask if everyone can read the slides. "Well, maybe you can move up."
7. Someone asks a tough question. After a quick deflection fails: "Let's take that offline".

I don't understand

[gEvil (beta)]

I'm not sure I understand the findings. I know I'm always pleased when my boss "delegates" his full workload to me at a meeting.

Because-

[Hao Wu]

There's NOTHING more important than feeling good. We learned that in the '90s.

Something needs to be done about meetings... Perhaps more laws, counselling, medication... for the children.

True (?) Meeting Story

[TFGeditor]

I read in Reader's Digest many years ago about a plant manager who loathed meetings. A worker was injured on the job, which prompted a series of long "safety meetings." This propmpted the manager to post signs throughout the plant that read:

Work Safely! Accidents cause Meetings!

Are you lonely ? Call a Meeting

[COredneck]

I use to have this at my old job that was posted. Some of the high-ups were not impressed.

Are you Lonely ?

Don't like working on your own ? Hate Making Decisions ?


Then Call a Meeting !!!!

YOU CAN...

SEE people
DRAW Flowcharts
FEEL Important
IMPRESS your collegues
FORM subcommittees
MAKE meaningless recommendations
All on Company Time

MEETINGS

The pratical alternative to work.

Re:Things are different in sales

[acvh]

A thoughtful, intelligent, insightful post.

Therefore, you CAN'T be a salesman.

Except for the part about liking meetings. Every sales guy I've worked with loves meetings. They want to have meetings for everything - except when they're booking my time on conference calls.

Re:Things are different in sales

[gstoddart]

I work in sales. The more that I can understand our products, the better of a salesman I can be. I"m not the type of person that will try to make up things because they want products to look good -- instead, I try to be as knowledgeable as I can, because from what I have seen, the more knowledgeable that the buyer sees that I am, the more trusting they are of me, and therefore more willing to buy what I am selling.

Gak! One of them has breeched the outer perimeter and is posting on Slashdot.

Rally the forces, we must stop the incursion of salesmen onto technical forums before the damage is too great.

I sense a great tremor in the force.

Re:Things are different in sales

[Schraegstrichpunkt]

Gak! One of them has breeched the outer perimeter and is posting on Slashdot.

Rally the forces, we must stop the incursion of salesmen onto technical forums before the damage is too great.

An example of two statements with no relation to each other.