🏁 Axios Finish Line: You're over-scheduled

76,500 hours of meetings | Wednesday, February 08, 2023

Open in app View in browser   Presented By HCA Healthcare   Axios Finish Line By Mike Allen, Erica Pandey and Jim VandeHei ·Feb 08, 2023 Feb 08, 2023 Welcome back. Talk to us at FinishLine@axios.com. Smart Brevity™ count: 305 words ... 1½ minutes.     1 big thing: Companies fight meeting madness Illustration: Brendan Lynch/Axios   The average executive in the U.S. spends 23 hours a week in meetings, up from 10 hours in the 1960s. That's according to a recent study published in the MIT Sloan Management Review. Why it matters: We're over-scheduled. Hours spent in meetings — many of which could be shortened or canceled entirely — are leaving little time to be productive and creative. Driving the news: Corporate America's meeting madness intensified due to the pandemic, when many leaders responded to remote and hybrid work by adding check-ins and meetings to bring people together. But video meetings can be even more tiring and tedious than in-person ones. And soon we became all too familiar with Zoom fatigue. Since 2020, the time spent in Teams meetings increased by 252% and Zoom meetings increased by 3,300%, yet productivity levels saw the inverse effect, Axios' Eleanor Hawkins reports. What's happening: Now, a number of companies are fighting meeting bloat and giving employees time back. Shopify CEO Tobi Lütke recently mandated a calendar purge that will eliminate more than 76,500 hours of corporate meetings. The tobacco company Reynolds American Inc. had planned a 90-minute town hall to announce companywide restructuring plans, but decided to scrap the meeting and send around a 10-minute video instead, The Wall Street Journal notes. Go deeper.     A message from HCA Healthcare The organization supporting the next generation of doctors and nurses     HCA Healthcare invests in nurses and physicians. An example: As a significant sponsor of graduate medical education — and through partnerships with nursing schools across the country — HCA Healthcare increases access to education and advanced career development for clinicians. Learn more.     🇬🇷 A map of family history Photo courtesy of Dan P. Finish Line reader Dan P. sent in this fabulous map: "Actually quite rare and perhaps valuable, but not as precious as the thoughts it stirs in me." "A map of Ancient Greece, circa 1858, gifted to me by a cousin from Aegina. I look at it and think of my grandparents, who came to the U.S. in 1915, from the Peloponnesus, and I know that I exist in this time and place because of them."   Are you a fan of this email format? Your essential communications — to staff, clients and other stakeholders — can have the same style. Axios HQ, a powerful platform, will help you do it.   Axios thanks our partners for supporting our newsletters. Sponsorship has no influence on editorial content. Axios, 3100 Clarendon B‌lvd, Arlington VA 22201   You received this email because you signed up for newsletters from Axios. To stop receiving this newsletter, unsubscribe or manage your email preferences.   Was this email forwarded to you? Sign up now to get Axios in your inbox.   Follow Axios on social media: