Company's 'No Meetings Wednesday' Prove To Be A Hit

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LOS ANGELES (CBSMiami) - If you work in an office there's a good chance you attend meetings on a regular basis - maybe more frequently than you want or need.

In fact, a new survey finds that many workers consider those meetings a big waste of time. So one company decided to do something about it.

At Asana in San Francisco, the company offers its employees free breakfast, lunch, and dinner as well as paid sabbatical and parental leave. Employees also appreciate something the company does not have.

"It's no meeting Wednesday where employees can actually get their work done," said Anna Binder, head of people operations.

Binder says giving workers one whole day without meetings allows them to dive into their work.

"They can go deep for uninterrupted hours of time in order to do the focused work that they need to move their work forward," she said.

In a new survey from Accountemps, workers say they spend 21 percent of their time in meetings and feel 25% of that time is wasted. The top complaints are that meetings often start or end late, they are unnecessary and could have been handled over email, and that people who attend meetings are often distracted by their smartphones.

"The meetings that are regular need to sometimes be looked at, you don't have to meet just because it's a habit to meet," said Dawn Fay, a senior director with the staffing agency Robert Half.

Fay said an effective meeting doesn't have to run longer than 30 to 45 minutes.

"Get in and get your points across, get some things accomplished and then get out," she said.

Asana's "no meeting Wednesdays" are so popular they've become a recruiting tool. The message is 'time is precious, let's make sure to use it well'.