Is That Meeting Really Necessary? A Prescription for the Era of "Meeting Fatigue" Draining Employees' Spirits

Morning, you open your computer. The calendar is filled with meetings scheduled every 30 minutes. Regular meetings in the morning, progress checks before lunch, coordination with other departments in the afternoon, and a "just in case" meeting in the evening. Between meetings, you respond to emails, react to chats, and by the time you finally get to your own work, your concentration is already depleted.

For many working people, this is not a special day. Rather, it's a familiar routine.

An article on meeting research introduced by the British newspaper The Independent highlights the contradictions faced by modern workplaces. Meetings are originally tools to advance work. They exist to share information, make decisions, exchange opinions, and build relationships. However, in reality, meetings are increasingly becoming situations that hinder rather than advance work.

The problem is not just the "number of meetings." The core issue pointed out by the article is how meetings are designed, whether their purpose is clear, and whether participants can voice their opinions fairly. In other words, the true nature of meeting fatigue is not merely a waste of time. It is the manifestation of organizational culture, power dynamics, and design flaws in work styles through the form of meetings.

Meetings Are Not "Evil," But Bad Meetings Can Break People

Dissatisfaction with meetings is shared in workplaces worldwide. On social media and forums, voices like "Couldn't this have been an email?" "I can't work because of meetings," and "Just turning on the camera is exhausting" are endless.

However, completely denying meetings themselves is premature. Good meetings enhance employee engagement. In often isolating remote environments, face-to-face conversations can help reaffirm one's role and feel connected to the team. New ideas can emerge, and concerns or nuances that are hard to convey in writing can be shared.

The problem is applying the same meeting format to all purposes.

If the purpose is information sharing, pre-meeting materials or asynchronous documents might suffice. If decision-making is the goal, it's necessary to clarify the necessary decision-making materials and decision-makers. If it's a place for sharing emotions and opinions, creating an atmosphere conducive to speaking up is essential. If building relationships is the goal, it's necessary to leave room for mutual understanding rather than just pursuing efficiency.

Nevertheless, in many workplaces, "just in case meetings" proliferate. Invitations are sent with unclear purposes, and participants don't know what is expected of them. Materials are shared just before or during the meeting. Only a few people speak, while others silently stare at the screen. Meetings end without conclusions, leading to another "confirmation meeting" being set up.

This vicious cycle is what is known as "meeting hell."

New Fatigue Brought by Remote Meetings

Since the pandemic, online meetings have become standard in workplaces. The elimination of travel time and the ease of connecting with remote members are significant benefits. However, online meetings have also brought new fatigue.

Firstly, the cognitive load is high. On the screen, it's difficult to read the other person's expressions, gestures, and atmosphere. It's hard to judge whether a slight silence is due to communication delay, disagreement, or contemplation. While looking at a screen with multiple faces, you also have to be mindful of how you appear. This requires a different kind of concentration than face-to-face interactions.

Secondly, the sense of constant connectivity intensifies. Since online meetings are easy to set up, they fill up calendar gaps one after another. There's no need to book a meeting room or travel. Therefore, even content that previously might have been deemed "not worth gathering for" easily becomes a meeting.

Thirdly, the boundary between work and personal life becomes blurred. When participating in meetings from home, there are family, chores, and living sounds in the background. While maintaining a business persona on screen, you simultaneously exist as a person living in the real space. This duality creates invisible stress.

Research from Stanford University suggests that fatigue from video meetings may be particularly strong for women. Factors such as self-gazing from constantly seeing one's image and the physical constraint of staying within the camera frame are cited as reasons that intensify fatigue. Although online meetings appear to be flat environments, not everyone can participate equally.

The Blind Spot of "Women Finding It Hard to Speak" in Online Meetings

The Independent article also highlights gender differences in online meetings as an important issue. Surveys indicate that women tend to find it harder to speak in online meetings compared to face-to-face ones.

Several reasons can be considered. Online, it's difficult to time one's speech, and if delayed even slightly, someone else might start talking. During screen sharing, participants' faces become smaller, making it hard to see who wants to speak. Non-verbal cues weaken, making interruptions and imbalances in speaking opportunities more likely.

Furthermore, in remote work, household role burdens may overlap. While participating in meetings, one might be mindful of family presence and household arrangements. The burdens that were separated when at the workplace now proceed simultaneously outside the screen.

This is not merely a matter of "ease of speaking." Not being able to speak in meetings means it's harder to participate in decision-making. Opportunities for ideas to be evaluated are lost, and the chance to demonstrate presence decreases. Consequently, it can affect career development and evaluation.

The design of meetings is directly related to the fairness of the organization.

The Empathy of "Does This Really Need to Be a Meeting?" Spreading on Social Media

 

Looking at reactions on social media, dissatisfaction with meeting fatigue splits into three main directions.

The first is the reaction of "Please don't turn things that can be handled by email or chat into meetings." In Reddit's technology community, comments often suggest that topics related to online meeting fatigue could have been handled with a single email. The problem with meetings is not just time. Many people feel stressed by the interruption of concentration and the disruption of workflow caused by meetings.

The second is fatigue from the "camera-on culture." One comment suggested that in large meetings, only speakers or key members should have their cameras on. On the other hand, some feel that turning off the camera in small teams weakens the sense of connection. Here lies the difficulty of balancing efficiency and relationships.

The third is the perspective that "managers also suffer from meetings." In Reddit's career advice community, in response to the question of whether managers being in meetings all day truly benefits the company, there were responses from managers saying, "We don't want this either" and "We're acting as shields to prevent the team from being caught up in unnecessary meetings." In other words, meetings deplete not only the field but also managers' time and judgment.

On LinkedIn, there's a view that meetings are not just time thieves but also places where organizational knowledge is generated. Backgrounds of decision-making, opposing opinions, and contexts that are hard to document are often shared in meetings. Therefore, the need is not for "zero meetings," but for ideas on how to preserve and reuse the knowledge generated in meetings.

Summarizing the reactions on social media, what many people seek is not the abolition of meetings. It's meetings that make sense. Meetings where the purpose is clear, participation is meaningful, and work feels advanced afterward.

Meetings Reflect Organizational Culture

Looking at how meetings are conducted reveals what the organization values.

If only the loudest voices are heard in every meeting, it's likely that speaking power is tied to authority in that organization. If explanations are repeated for those who haven't read the materials, it suggests that lack of preparation is tolerated. If meetings continue without conclusions, responsibility may be ambiguous. If there are too many invitees, it might indicate a lack of distinction between information sharing and decision-making.

Conversely, good meetings share common traits. The purpose is clear, only necessary people participate, information is shared in advance, speaking opportunities are not biased, and the next actions are clear after the meeting. You don't end up asking, "So, what are we doing?" the moment the meeting ends.

Meetings are a microcosm of the organization. Therefore, changing meetings is not just about improving operational efficiency. It's about changing organizational decision-making, inclusivity, and trust relationships.

The First Question to Ask Is "Why Are We Gathering?"

The first step to improving meetings is simple.

"Why are we gathering?"

Do not start a meeting with this question left vague. Is it for information sharing, decision-making, opinion gathering, or relationship building? The optimal format changes depending on the purpose.

For information sharing, documents, recordings, or chats may suffice. For decision-making, it's necessary to clarify the decision-makers, options, and criteria in advance. For gathering opinions, some may find it easier to speak using anonymous surveys or pre-comments. For relationship building, pursuing efficiency alone is not enough; time for casual conversation and mutual understanding is meaningful.

Also, the format—online, face-to-face, hybrid, or audio-only—should be chosen according to the purpose. Not everything should be a video meeting. Some discussions require screen sharing, while others might benefit from not seeing faces for focused task verification. In situations needing emotional dialogue or trust recovery, face-to-face might be more suitable.

Choosing the meeting format based on habit rather than purpose can significantly reduce meeting fatigue.

Concrete Measures to Create Good Meetings

Changing meetings requires design, not just a change in mindset.

First, share the agenda and materials in advance. In meetings where participants can't prepare, only a few can speak. Gathering without preparation turns meetings into mere information reading sessions.

Next, establish rules for speaking. Using hand-raising functions, chats, anonymous comments, or round-robin methods can help avoid situations where only the loudest dominate. Especially in online meetings, where natural eye contact and speaking cues are hard to convey, the role of the facilitator becomes crucial.

Furthermore, it's important not to always enforce camera-on. While seeing faces can be helpful, constant camera-on can increase fatigue for some. The use of cameras should be flexible according to the purpose.

Finally, decide how to end the meeting. Who will do what by when? What are the decisions? What remains undecided? If this remains vague, another confirmation meeting will be necessary afterward.

Bad meetings breed more meetings. Good meetings lead to the next actions.

From "Reducing Meetings" to "Designing Meetings"

When meeting fatigue becomes an issue, many companies think about "reducing meetings." Of course, reducing unnecessary meetings is important. However, that's not enough.

Because even with fewer meetings, if the quality is low, people will still be exhausted. Conversely, if the necessity is clear, participants are respected, and decision-making progresses, even if it takes some time, there is a sense of satisfaction.

What modern work styles need is not just to reduce the number of meetings. It's to redesign meetings as places to draw out the organization's intelligence.

Meetings can either take away employees' time or create connections. They can be a cause of burnout or a source of engagement. Which way it turns depends on the awareness and design of those holding the meetings.

Before sending out the next meeting invitation, it's worth pausing to think.

Is it really necessary to gather?
Who should participate?
What should be decided, shared, and left behind?
And does this meeting respect the time and energy of the participants?

Meetings are not something to just endure. They are something to design.
From organizations that can switch to this mindset, the fatigue of working people will gradually decrease.

Source URL

The Independent: Referencing major points on the impact of meetings on employee well-being, meeting purpose design, and speaking disparities in online meetings.
https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/work-meetings-zoom-staff-burnout-b2978129.html

HEC Liège: Introduction to meeting research and podcasts by Willem Standaert and others. Referencing the impact of meetings on productivity, happiness, and inclusivity, and background information on the "meeting load paradox."
https://www.hec.uliege.be/cms/c_12740432/en/rethinking-meetings-productivity-well-being-and-inclusion

Stanford Report: Referencing research on video meeting fatigue, particularly the potential for stronger fatigue in women and the impact of self-view.
https://news.stanford.edu/stories/2021/04/zoom-fatigue-worse-women

Axios: Referencing surveys on the increase in online meetings, the rise of mute and camera-off, and the relationship between meeting participation and turnover risk.
https://www.axios.com/2024/06/24/zoom-meeting-participation

Harvard Business Review: Referencing background information on the impact of meetings on employees' work time and psychological, physical, and mental well-being.
https://hbr.org/2022/03/dear-manager-youre-holding-too-many-meetings

Reddit r/technology: Examples of social media reactions to online meeting fatigue. Referencing points like "meetings that could have been emails" and "camera-on fatigue."
https://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/12bicxo/a_new_study_finally_explains_why_online_meetings/

Reddit r/careeradvice: Referencing social media discussions on reactions to managers being overwhelmed by meetings, both the protective and inefficient aspects of meetings.
https://www.reddit.com/r/careeradvice/comments/1cdsiwg/when_managers_are_in_meetings_all_day_is_that/