Being Late for Meetings Isn’t Just Annoying. It’s Bad for Business.
Executive Summary
We usually treat meeting punctuality as a matter of etiquette, but recent research suggests that when meetings don’t start on time because of late attendees, they are less effective and less satisfying. HR professionals should address the topic of meeting punctuality in relevant training and leadership development programs. If meeting lateness is a chronic organizational problem, more rigorous action is warranted.
It’s 9:06 AM on a Monday. Four members of the I.T. Team are in Conference Room B checking their email and chatting about the weekend. Their meeting was scheduled to begin at 9:00, but they know it won’t really start until their boss shuffles in at 9:10 or so, mumbling a half-hearted apology.
Across the hall in Conference Room A, Finance is repeating the first five minutes of their meeting because the Controller dialed in late.
Down in the lobby, a job candidate is looking nervously at her watch, waiting for the recruiter who was supposed to escort her to a 9:00 AM job interview.
Most of the time, we don’t do anything about meeting lateness — aside from complaining to each other about the person who’s late. After all, in the grand scheme of things we have to worry about, the guy from Marketing who can’t seem to show up on time doesn’t seem like a big deal. Sure, it’s annoying. It’s flaky. It’s inconsiderate. But it’s not that important compared to the things that really matter.
We tend to treat meeting punctuality as a matter of personal or professional etiquette. According to recent research, however, we should be taking the issue much more seriously.
A team of three researchers set out to to explore this problem with a series of three studies. In the first study, they asked 252 employees from a variety of industries to reflect on the most recent meeting they attended. About 51% of the participants reported that their most recent meeting had started at least five minutes late.
Unsurprisingly, those who attended meetings that started five minutes late reported lower levels of meeting satisfaction and meeting effectiveness than those whose meetings started on time. Participants whose meetings started 10 minutes late reported even lower levels of meeting satisfaction and effectiveness.
For their second and third studies, the researchers recruited college undergraduates who were told that their goal was to brainstorm improvement suggestions for a college curriculum. The participants were randomly assigned to one of three groups: a group whose meetings would start on time, a group whose meetings would start five minutes late because of a late attendee, and a group whose meetings would start ten minutes late because of a late attendee.
The results of these laboratory experiments suggest that participants who had to deal with late attendees predicted and experienced lower levels of meeting effectiveness and satisfaction than those whose meetings started on time.
Taken together, these studies suggest that being late for meetings isn’t just bad manners — it’s bad for business. When employees attend meetings that don’t start on time because of a late attendee, they accomplish less and are more dissatisfied with the meeting.
Takeaways for the HR Professional
Aside from personally setting a good example by being on time for meetings, HR professionals should address the topic of meeting punctuality in relevant training and leadership development programs. If meeting lateness is a chronic problem in your organization, a more rigorous approach might be necessary. Messages from senior leaders, cascading meeting punctuality performance objectives, and ongoing communications may be effective.
Source
Allen, J. A., Lehmann‐Willenbrock, N., & Rogelberg, S. G. (2018). Let’s Get this Meeting Started: Meeting Lateness and Actual Meeting Outcomes. Journal of Organizational Behavior.
