Meeting overload, burnout and the ,email avalanche
Meetings… that delicate art of gathering a team to discuss things that could often be sorted out in a three-line email, or, if we’re feeling wild, a WhatsApp message. According to a recent report shared in the French newspaper Les Échos, managers spend an average of 14 hours and 52 minutes per week in these so-called “meetings.” Our dear executives broke records with 25 hours and 28 minutes of weekly discussions. That’s almost the time it would take to binge an entire Netflix series. With Stranger Things, at least something happens.
Email management: extreme sport or waste of time?
But wait, there’s more. In addition to being stuck in endless meetings (or on Zoom), our brave managers also juggle an average of 205 emails per week. The executives? They’re playing in the big leagues, with 342 emails hitting their inboxes every seven days. No wonder their inboxes look like a never-ending game of Tetris, except 60% of those messages haven’t been opened in over nine months.
The average employee isn’t faring much better
And what about the regular employee? Not exactly spared. They deal with 106 emails and over 6.5 hours of meetings weekly. Let’s pause for a moment to salute the assistants: modern-day gladiators. Not only do they manage their overflowing inboxes, but sometimes they also handle their boss’s. I’ve been through that jungle myself, and I can tell you: you don’t come out the same person. You walk around with a blank stare, your fingers twitching for the “archive” button, breaking into a cold sweat at the mere ding of a notification. This isn’t admin work—it’s an endurance sport.
So what’s really behind these ridiculous numbers?
Simple: when you’re a manager, you become a Jedi Master of juggling PowerPoints, “brainstorming sessions,” and debates on the company’s new logo redesign. The week becomes a never-ending relay of meetings strung together like pearls on a necklace of bureaucracy. All that, peppered with hundreds of emails you respond to with the enthusiasm of an oyster on a Monday morning.
The chronic meeting syndrome: the illusion of productivity
Meetings are a bit like calories—you only notice how many you’ve accumulated when it’s already too late. After spending hours discussing everything and nothing, you end up creating Excel sheets that no one will ever read. You sit through conference calls with your mic off just to yawn in peace, while people debate the color of the future company website.
The result? Massive time waste and a huge illusion of productivity. Yes, spending the afternoon on the 2030 action plan doesn’t move the urgent files forward.
Back to basics: when simplicity equals efficiency
Eventually, after navigating between meeting rooms and sophisticated dashboards, we lose sight of what matters. Having worked alongside many leaders, I noticed that the “old-school” ones didn’t need fancy tools — just a scrap of paper and some clear thinking.
These veterans weren’t dinosaurs. They knew the latest trends in their sector inside out, and their companies crushed the competition. But to lead, they didn’t need flashy PowerPoints or endless KPIs. They focused on one thing: profitability. A handful of clear figures told the real story—no endless charts needed. They made time to reflect, hear their teams, and connect with clients directly.
As a result, office life had a much more human rhythm. They didn’t need a never-ending stream of emails or brainstorming sessions to grasp what mattered. And miracle of miracles: no one was burning out from endless busywork.
On the flip side: the perfectionists and their endless to-do lists
Then, we have the perfectionist managers. I’ve worked with my share of these meeting-addicts who think “the longer, the better.” Their days (and ours) are like obstacle courses: never-ending meetings, hundreds of emails, calls with stakeholders (who give opinions but never decisions)… Their schedule was packed to the breaking point.
KPIs? A festival: customer satisfaction, employee engagement, carbon footprint, coffee temperature in the break room… and of course, the sacred meetings.
And yet, in their quest to “do everything right,” they end up burnt out. Their to-do list becomes a black hole, and stress creeps in. We all know the symptoms: exhaustion, low productivity, lack of motivation. The stress spreads like wildfire, infecting everyone. In short, by trying to do too much, they end up doing everything wrong.
Time to simplify, so we can finally breathe
Perhaps it’s time we take inspiration from the “old-timers”: focus on what truly matters, simplify our objectives, and prioritize quality over quantity. Let’s be honest—what’s the point of having 36 KPIs if no one knows what to do with them? Dashboards should help with decision-making. They’re not wall art or a badge of good conscience.
The “old guard” had it right. They didn’t drown in endless metrics. They kept it simple, and it worked. Meetings were for actual problems, not to argue over the font of the annual report. So, why not bring a little common sense back?
Tips to escape chronic meeting syndrome and reduce stress
Keep meetings to the essentials. Focus on two goals: clarify precise points (a good old Q&A) or make decisions—but only after sharing all documents and proposals to make discussions sharp and prep-focused.
Trim KPIs to the bare minimum. A good KPI is like a good dessert: better a perfect Crème brûlée than a buffet of mediocre sweets. Choose indicators that drive real decisions.
Block out real focus time. Without interruptions: no phone buzzes, no off-topic chatter. Yes, really. You’d be surprised how much you can get done in two hours of deep focus.
Talk to people — actually talk to them. Instead of stacking up more meetings, take the time to have honest, one-on-one conversations. No KPIs, no hidden agendas. Just find out what’s going on. That’s where knots start to untangle, and morale improves.
What if simplicity became the new luxury?
The numbers around meeting hours and emails are a clear wake-up call. In trying to optimize everything, we’ve ended up drowning. The solution might just be simple: go back to basics, slow down, and give meaning back to our work. It takes courage, but that’s the real key to regaining productivity—without the dashboards and the 25 hours of talk time.
As one old-school leader once told me:
“Keep it simple. Take your time. It’s better to arrive a bit late than to miss what matters.”
In the end, you’ll find that real satisfaction doesn’t come from “happiness workshops”—it comes from the freedom to work with clarity and purpose.
Because, to quote a philosopher from the coffee machine:
“Meetings are like toll booths—the fewer, the faster you go!”
