How to Deal with Conference Room Conflicts
Did you know that in the United States, around 11 million meetings are held on an average day? At this rate,the total number of meetings held in a year crosses the one billion mark! This is what the data published by Attentiv had to say, which also stated that meetings are a major expense for an organization, since the average salary cost per meeting is $338,excluding high paid CEOs and other business leaders. Of all the meeting held, 88% of them are for staff, task force and information sharing.
With the increasing number of meetings, conferences rooms or meeting rooms too are increasingly being incorporated in the workplace. At the same time, having too many meetings has been consistently ranked amongst the top productivity-killers in the workplace. But do you know what kills productivity even more? Not being able to find space to hold a meeting, due to clashes in meeting timings of other departments and the lack of meeting space. This only keeps employees waiting, where they can’t focus on the task at hand.
Here are a few tips companies can use to resolve the clashes occurring for meeting rooms.
Offer a Variety of Meeting Areas
Did you know that 53% of all conference rooms are designed to accommodate 7-8 people but more than 70% of meetings involve two to four people? This is a sheer waste of space. To avoid this, experts at Extra Office Interiors recommend that businesses offer a variety of meeting areas that are able to accommodate groups of different sizes. For instance, conference rooms for meetings involving 8 people or more, huddle rooms for 2-8 people, phone rooms for meetings between just two employees and so on. The experts added that sometimes the meeting is casual in nature, for which lounges and cafeterias will work just as well.
Let Employees Choose
According to research published by Harvard Business Review, employees tend to perform better when they have control over their space. This means that when employees are allowed to decide when, where, and how they work, they are more likely to view that company to be innovative and compassionate. Such employees also tend to be more satisfied with their jobs and perform better.
So, once you’ve created a variety of meeting areas, leave it upto the employees to choose and manage those spaces according to their needs.Employees can take the help of a digital channel or simply a sign-up sheet to plan meetings. This will also help other employees know of the office space being available in case a meeting is cancelled, minimizing inefficiencies.
Set and Enforce Time Limits
There was once a time when longer meetings used to be a symbol of utter dedication and potential outcomes. However, today, they only prove to be an utter waste of time. Employees and executives are trying to wrap up things fast, taking advantage of technology. However, problems occur when other employees, waiting for their meeting hours, aren’t aware of it. It is therefore recommended to set time limits to longer meeting that require those highly important conference rooms in the office.
Also, not everything needs to be shared via a physical meeting. For some things, simply sending a group e-mail would suffice. This will significantly avoid the need to occupy a conference room.