Data‑employees spend roughly one working day each week, or 23% of their time, in a gathering. The burden of the workday typically prevents staff from having uninterrupted time to pay attention, inflicting them to increase their hours properly past the normal 9-to-5.
It’s tempting for firms to embrace the attraction of “no conferences,” hoping the additional time will result in extra targeted work. However does eliminating conferences truly work?
Grace Williams, VP of Consumer Relations of the PR company PANBlast, satisfied her management group to cancel all meetings for a week. With over 20 conferences filling greater than half her schedule, Grace noticed a “no conferences week” as an opportunity to get significant work executed whereas relieving some Zoom fatigue.
The end result? Whereas some staff missed social interactions and struggled with understanding workload, 92% of staff stated they’d wish to repeat the experiment once more later that yr.
So, what’s the fitting transfer for firms?” Ought to they dedicate a day every week to deep work, or check a full week with out conferences? And in an period of improved collaboration instruments and smarter calendar administration, is the actual alternative in small refinements fairly than sweeping modifications?
Right here, representatives from firms of all sizes share how they’re rethinking assembly tradition.
Contemplate at some point of deep work
I introduced a “No-Assembly Fridays” coverage with me once I joined Tormach two years in the past—the remainder of the corporate adopted it quickly after. The end result? Larger productivity, no communication gaps, and a noticeable shift in morale. Individuals use Fridays to atone for emails, end admin duties, and tie up unfastened ends, which clears the psychological muddle earlier than the weekend. It additionally creates a pure incentive to complete collaborative work by Thursday, so deadlines are usually hit earlier.
The concept got here from my expertise at bigger firms, the place Friday conferences had been typically canceled last-minute by management, throwing off your day and your mindset. It felt inefficient and irritating, so I made a decision to flip that script and simply remove the expectation of conferences altogether.
We keep related by means of Microsoft Groups, and Friday has organically turn into a day when individuals share weekly wins in our channels—maintaining communication flowing whereas nonetheless honoring deep work time.
Heather Curtis, Director of Gross sales and Marketing, Tormach
Give staff instruments to step out of conferences
No assembly insurance policies and no assembly weeks ought to be a factor of the previous due to AI.
As an alternative of an all-or-nothing strategy that limits how individuals wish to work, as a substitute give them the instruments to step out of conferences that they will miss, whereas nonetheless making certain they get the knowledge they want. It’s all infinitely extra doable in the present day.
When groups implement an AI assembly copilot, people naturally attend 20% fewer conferences practically instantly, whereas nonetheless having access to the content material through shared assembly stories and related enterprise search. Nobody even has to assessment assembly minutes any longer; you merely immediate your data base for the knowledge you want, and transfer by means of your day quicker.
David Shim, Cofounder and CEO, Read AI
Anchor the week with written, public commitments
Development requires pace, and conferences had been slowing us down. So, we applied a whole no-meeting coverage for 5 consecutive enterprise days. No common standups, check-ins, and even “fast” calls. We structured it like a dash, with every participant committing to 1 key venture for the week and sharing it in a Slack thread Monday morning.
Output throughout that week doubled in comparison with a typical week, as measured by the variety of campaigns launched and options delivered. It felt electrical. Nonetheless, by Friday, we realized that relationships had suffered barely; casual collaboration and artistic riffing had been nearly nonexistent with out real-time chats.
To make sure long-term success, anchor the week with written, public commitments. At beehiiv, we require a Monday kickoff put up and a Friday recap. With out that, a scarcity of conferences merely makes individuals invisible, and invisibility kills momentum quicker than conferences ever may.
Edward White, Head of Development, beehiiv
Get buy-in from the highest down
Shift has applied Deep Work Wednesdays for over a yr for your entire firm. The important thing to a profitable no-meeting coverage is to first obtain true buy-in from the highest down. It’s typically on the management stage the place schedules get busy and assembly invitations get scheduled simply to seek out the time when nobody has conferences booked.
Particular person group members additionally look to the corporate’s management to evaluate how dedicated they need to be to new firm insurance policies or modifications of their workflow. The long-term success of an organization’s no-meeting coverage is reliant on these on the prime setting the fitting tone and main by instance.
Sabrina Banadyga, VP of Advertising, Shift
Be intentional about conferences
Considerate assembly habits aren’t about slicing issues out completely, however it’s about being intentional. I’m ruthless about solely attending conferences with a transparent agenda and objective. If one thing will be shared as ongoing communication, as a substitute of a separate assembly, it ought to be. If I can empower somebody to maneuver ahead with out me, even higher.
My recommendation? Lead by instance. Defend your calendar, prioritize deep work, and normalize the concept not being in each assembly can truly be an indication of a robust, empowered and trusted group, not a disengaged one.
Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo (JC), President and COO at TravelPerk
