Is your team making this productivity error?

Advisors’ meetings with clients are invaluable but a new survey suggests that many organizations are wasting hours with unproductive meetings.

And finance leaders in corporate Canada are more likely to waste time in meetings than the wider population of office workers across the country.

The poll by Accountemps reveals that workers spend, on average, 15% of their time in meetings and 25% of it is wasted; among finance leaders, 26% of their time is spent in meetings although they say 18% is unproductive.

Among the big issues that workers have with meetings: almost two thirds say they start or end late; 58% question whether the matter could have been handled in another way, email for example; 56% say attendees interrupt each other with the same share saying there is not enough time allotted for the meeting.

"While meetings can be valuable opportunities for staff to share insights and collaborate, issues like poor planning or lack of focus often leads to drawn-out, repetitive and unproductive discussions," said David King, Canadian president of Accountemps. "It's important that meeting managers establish clear objectives, stick to a concise agenda and follow up with notes or next steps to ensure an efficient and constructive use of everyone's time."

Distractions are an issue for half of respondents who say meeting attendees are using their phone, checking email, or doodling.

Almost half say attendees are not prepared or have not checked the agenda if there is one.