About three quarters (73%) of workers are having their day interrupted by online virtual meetings, with over half (53%) saying they are interrupted regularly.

This is according to a new poll from Robert Walters, a recruitment company, which found that professionals are regularly interrupted and distracted from their work by an onslaught of virtual meetings.

“Throughout the pandemic, virtual meetings were indispensable for maintaining communication and connection with our colleagues and teams,” Daniel Harris, director of Robert Walters London and South East, said.

“However, the tide is now shifting – as more professionals return to the office, we’re still seeing Teams or Zoom meetings being scheduled for things that could be more efficiently and effectively handled through a brief message or email.”

According to the research, one in four UK professionals have over five virtual meetings a day, while one in three have up to four. As the average call takes around 30 minutes, this amounts to 2-2.5 hours a day being spent on virtual meetings instead of normal work.

“Meetings make up a vital part of almost everyone’s work day, but managers and senior leaders must be careful that they are using virtual meetings to aid productivity not hamper it,” Harris said.

When questioned on how productive they felt virtual meetings were, with around half (56%) saying that it largely depended on the meeting. 13%, however, felt like virtual meetings were not productive at all.

Interestingly, the report also found that a third of meetings were held online despite half of the attendees being in the same office.

“The success / productivity of a virtual meeting is dependent on a range of factors like who has organised the call, the number of attendees, whether there is clear plan of proceedings, what will be addressed and how engaged each person is,” Harris commented.

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“Unlike in person meetings, during virtual meetings body-language or other social cues can be missed, hindering the natural flow of conversation. This can lead to professionals’ ‘zoning-out’ or even turning off their camera to hide the fact they are doing other things.”

There appears to be a generational gap as well in preference for online communication, with about two thirds (62%) of GenZ preferring messaging apps, and a third of professionals over 27 preferring email.

Only 5% of professionals across different age groups prefer online meetings when productivity is the focus, citing their disruptive nature to day to day tasks and schedules.