More than one third (35%) of business meetings are considered unproductive, with the overall annual cost to firms of unproductive meetings estimated at $259 billion in the United States and £50 billion ($64 billion USD) in the United Kingdom. These are among the findings of a new report from the London School of Economics and Political Science.
Researchers from LSE’s The Inclusion Initiative (TII) sponsored by Protiviti surveyed more than 3,400 professional employees globally. They found that unproductive meetings were associated with a lack of diverse generational representation, and that unproductive meetings could be reduced from 35% to 29% by achieving representation that reflects the diversity of generations in the workforce today. This would reduce the cost of unproductive meetings each year by an estimated $28 billion in the United States, and £10 billion ($13 billion USD) in the United Kingdom.
71% of workplace meetings do not include representation from the Baby Boomer generation and 57% do not include representation from Gen Z. When these generations are included, Gen Z often have the least voice in meetings. By contrast, Gen X are reported to speak most in 59% of meetings, lessening the contributions from younger team members.
Generational representation was found to be especially valuable for people who hold senior positions at firms where this diversity can help influence strategic decision making and enhance productivity. 82% of executives who reported proportionate generational representation in their meetings said their firm outperforms the competition, compared to just 41% of executives who report no generational diversity in their meetings. However, 75% of executive meetings do not include any representation from Gen Z and nearly half (48%) of these meetings do not include a voice from either Gen Z or Baby Boomers.
Grace Lordan, Associate Professor of Behavioural Science and Director of TII at LSE, said:
“Unproductive meetings are a huge drain on the productivity of firms. Our research puts a cost to this drain and demonstrates that there are significant productivity benefits to be had by getting better representation of the generations across workplace meetings, especially at senior levels of the firm. I hope very much our work inspires firms to think twice about the opportunity cost of unproductive meetings and take the actions we recommend to reduce their occurrence.”
The researchers also examined the impact of specific behaviours on meeting productivity, identifying three key behaviours to make meetings more inclusive and productive: valuing all contributions, leveraging everyone’s insights to avoid groupthink, and being open to new ideas. Creating more inclusive meetings through these three behaviours could reduce the rate of unproductive meetings from 35% to 15%, saving firms an estimated $144 billion in the United States and £29 billion ($37 billion USD) in the United Kingdom each year. While most of the report data is drawn from the US and UK, unproductive meetings is a global problem.
Dr Daniel Jolles, Research Officer at TII, said: “Ensuring each generation is equipped with the right skills and behaviours to make meetings inclusive can help firms achieve big gains. Leaders must use meetings to seek input and be open to new ideas. All too often, meetings are dominated by the same voices, leading to groupthink and missed opportunities. This undermines productivity by restricting ideas and leaving key decisions unchallenged. The right meeting behaviours not only reduce the waste associated with unproductive meetings but also have positive knock-on effects, raising employee skills, satisfaction, and loyalty, while boosting the firm’s competitiveness and innovation.”
Matt Duncan, Managing Director, Business Performance Improvement, at Protiviti, said: “Although generational diversity has the potential to deliver meaningful benefits to businesses, generational inclusion is not being taken as seriously as other aspects of diversity. As people live and work longer, firms must embrace and capitalise on generational diversity to remain competitive and productive. Nowhere is this more evident than in meetings – important decisions get made in meetings so it’s vital that each generation is given a voice in these meetings to ensure firms continue to grow and succeed.”
The full report on When GENERATIONS meet: The productivity potential of multigenerational meetings marks the first annual report in a multi-year agreement between The Inclusion Initiative and Protiviti, the global business consulting firm.