What Is The Best Time And Day To Schedule A Meeting?

A Monday morning meeting is usually viewed by managements the world over as the best time to take decisions regarding the work for the week and other important matters.

But does it work in reality? No, says Gina Belli, education consultant, in her career news column in PayScale.  She says while several people do not like meetings, about 17% according to her findings, there are some who like them.

It is also a fact that some meetings seem to go more smoothly than others. Scheduling a meeting at a proper time and appropriate day of the week could ensure more participation from the employees as also be more productive.

The logic behind early morning meeting is to allow teams to discuss the details and problems of the work and plan for the week.

Scheduling a meeting at a proper time and appropriate day of the week could ensure more participation from the employees as also be more productive.

However, preparations for the meeting may have to be done the previous evening, putting unnecessary strain on the employee as also interfere with the work in hand.

It could also lead to some of the employees, who had more pressing matters to deal with, coming for meeting without adequate preparations.

Then, there are those who are not at their best early mornings, being sleepy and less alert and others who would prefer to start the day attending to some important items. In such cases, when an employee starts the day’s work on his own, he or she would be able to offer more inputs to groups later in the day.

However, later in the day also does not mean that the meeting is the last item on the agenda. Such a situation would also lead to disengagement with the employees tired after a long day at work. They may just want to get the meeting over with and go home.

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Apart from the team members being unable to come out with the best decisions, such meetings also would have less participation or active engagement than the ones held at the ‘proper time.’

What would then be the appropriate time? Somewhat surprisingly, it is Tuesdays at 2:30pm. This particular time was arrived at based on a study done by YouCanBookMe, a UK based company that makes scheduling apps for businesses.

After analyzing data from more than two million responses, they found 2:30 pm on Tuesday as the best time for meetings, neither too early nor too late (in both the day and the week). Thus, mid-afternoon and mid-week might be the ideal time for meetings. (Image Courtesy : www.flickr.com)