If you’ve been daydreaming in your conference room or Zoom lobby lately, you’re not alone. A new survey has found that a majority of Americans are experiencing meeting “hangovers.”
The study, titled “The Surprising Science of Meetings,” comes from the University of North Carolina, which found that more than 90% of employees say they sometimes get “hangovers,” or lingering feelings of frustration or distraction, after sitting through an unproductive meeting.
“A meeting hangover is the idea that when we have a bad meeting, we just don’t leave it at the door. It sticks with us, and it negatively affects our productivity,” Steven Rogelberg, a professor of management at UNC-Charlotte and author of “The Surprising Science of Meetings,” shared with CBS News.
More than half of those surveyed said that the “hangovers” leave an impact on their overall productivity, while another 47% reported feeling less engaged with their work.
However, bad meetings go beyond just how they affect productivity, as the survey also highlighted the impact they have on coworker relationships. In total, 47% of respondents said bad meetings have harmful effects on their interactions with coworkers. They reported feeling disconnected from their team and wanting to spend time alone.
The survey also noted that colleagues tend to vent to each other about the frustrations they feel, a process researchers called “co-rumination,” which can also hurt the atmosphere of a workplace and impact productivity.
So, what types of meetings are employees getting hangovers from?
The study said that meetings which could have been an email are among the top contributors, as well as those with unclear or irrelevant agendas, poor facilitation, meetings that run long, and those where no clear decision is made.
Rogelberg also spoke about possible improvement strategies for managers running meetings, which could reduce hangovers.
“Keep the attendee list as small as possible,” he said. “Remember that the more the leader talks, the lower the rating of effectiveness. Thus, the meeting leader needs to talk less and facilitate more.”
Other helpful tips include turning large agendas as topics to be discussed into questions to be answered to help drive engagement. He also said that “if you just can’t think of any questions, it likely means you don’t need to create a meeting.”