Arbeitszeit: Teuer und ineffizient? So viel hat Ihr letztes Meeting gekostet

In Deutschland, an estimated 64 billion euros are wasted annually due to inefficient meetings, according to a report by Doodle in their 2019 "State of Meetings Report." This figure is estimated to be around 80 billion euros when adjusted for inflation, as calculated by the Handelsblatt newspaper. A new calculator provided by the Handelsblatt allows users to determine the costs of meetings, including an estimate of the inefficiency caused by the meeting.

The central metric used by the Handelsblatt to gauge the inefficiency of meetings is the number of participants. A Microsoft study, utilizing online meetings, found a strong correlation between perceived inclusivity and efficiency of meetings. The study suggests that a meeting with fewer participants is more likely to be perceived as inclusive and efficient.

For instance, a meeting with two to three people is considered inclusive by over 90% of participants, while a meeting with more than 15 people only sees 33% of participants feeling included and, therefore, efficient. Lev Tankelevitch, one of the study authors, states, "Fewer people do not automatically make for a better meeting, but everyone must understand why they are attending."

Smaller meetings allow for clearer reasons for participation and higher chances of individual contribution, leading to greater satisfaction and perceived efficiency. Some companies have implemented strict rules for meeting sizes, with Jeff Bezos of Amazon stating that no more than eight people should attend a meeting, similar to Bayer.

Nisha Mahendrarajan of Bayer's core team for meeting culture emphasizes the importance of individuals being able to contribute or withdraw from a meeting. Surprisingly, employees were surprised to learn that by reducing weekly meeting time by just one hour, the company could save around 124 million euros. This is why efficient meetings are crucial.

Other factors influencing meeting efficiency include having an agenda, starting and ending on time. Companies like Microsoft have aligned their meeting policies with these insights and are actively disseminating similar guidelines across the organization. The meeting calculator, therefore, cannot provide an indisputable, calculated truth about corporate exchanges but aims to support a well-known question with scientific backing: Was it really necessary for this meeting or could it have been an email? Ultimately, it has not yet been seen that such a reduction has occurred in the German economy.