San Francisco Tech Company's Special Perk -- 'No Meeting Wednesday'
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS SF) -- Like many Bay Area high tech companies, Asana offers its employees free breakfast, lunch and dinner as well a paid sabbatical and parental leaves.
But if you ask employees what's the best perk, they will tell you its "no meeting Wednesday."
The San Francisco company makes business software that helps teams collaborate on projects. Anna Binder, head of Asana's people operation, says having a day without meetings helps employees dive into their work.
"It's no meeting Wednesday where employees can actually get their work done," said Binder. "They can go deep for uninterrupted hours of time in order to do the focused work that they need to move their work forward."
In a new survey from Accountemps, workers elsewhere say they spend 21 percent of their time in meetings and feel 25 percent of that time is wasted. Among their top complaints were that meetings often end too late, the meetings are unnecessary and that they are often distracted by their smartphones during meetings.
Robert Half and Accountemps' Dawn Fey said the most effective meetings don't last longer than 30 to 45 minutes.
"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," Fey said. "Get in and get your points across, get some things accomplished and then get out."