A reader writes:
I’m in search of some sensible recommendation to create breaks between meetings. I began a new job about six months in the past and the assembly tradition right here is slowly killing me. My previous office had performed some enchancment work that resulted in, amongst different issues, hour-long meetings being scheduled from :00 to :50 as a substitute of the complete hour, creating a pure break for restroom wants, espresso, and many others.
Now I discover myself totally scheduled in back-to-back meetings. For instance, my workday begins at 8:00 and at the moment I have digital meetings at 8:00-8:30, 8:30-10:30, and 10:30-12:30. In our meetings, folks will sometimes drop a “brb” within the chat and step away for a second, however by no means for greater than 1-2 minutes at a time. I would really like to have the ability to take 10ish minutes to make a cup of tea and provides my eyes a probability to regulate away from the display screen, however that is definitely not one thing I see different folks doing. Is this an unreasonable request? Our work shouldn’t be life-or-death however I really feel that there’s an inflated sense of urgency/significance that’s most likely contributing to this drawback.
If you agree that it’s affordable, do you’ve gotten any strategies about how I can carve out this time for myself? I’m exempt and never topic to interrupt laws, in order that’s not a answer. I don’t really feel that I have the standing but to convey up the bigger challenge of meetings in my group/division basically. It could not work for one-hour meetings, however my considering was that, 10 minutes earlier than the tip of a two-hour assembly, I may say one thing like “I’m going to drop off a little early; I need a few minutes before the next meeting.”
I have further considerations about how this tradition would have an effect on folks with a medical need for lengthy rest room breaks, and many others., however that isn’t my state of affairs and I have the impression I’m the one one that cares about it. It most likely gained’t shock you that this group has horrible work/life stability basically and I am already considering of shifting on; within the meantime I’m making an attempt to make issues work inside this construction.
If nothing else, it’s completely affordable to say at first or finish of meetings, “I’m going to drop off a little early; I need a few minutes before the next meeting” (your proposed language) and even simply “I have a hard stop at 12:20 so I’ll be dropping off slightly early.”
You may also have the ability to let a number of the assembly organizers know privately that you simply’re often in back-to-back meetings all day and can typically need to drop off 10 minutes early … and even say, “Would it work to schedule this meeting for 50 minutes instead of the full hour each week? I’m finding I have no time between meetings all day long and it would help to have more of a break between them.”
And you must have the ability to do all of that for hour-long meetings too, not simply the two-hour ones. If you’ve gotten considerations about how culturally acceptable that may be, you might run it by your boss or a coworker who has logic — however usually it ought to be okay to do.
Speaking of your boss: I hear you on feeling too new to convey this up in a bigger manner, however in a lot of roles and with a lot of bosses, it will be completely effective to say — even when new — “I’m finding I’m in back-to-back meetings all day with no time between them for the bathroom, grabbing coffee, or responding to emails. Do you think the org (or our team) would ever consider experimenting with defaulting to 50-minute meeting blocks instead of full hours? I’ve seen that work really well in the past.”
Also, do you truly need to be in all of those meetings? I know that may be onerous to push again on as a new individual, but it surely’s price serious about (and probably discussing along with your boss) whether or not you’ll be able to skip a few of them … in addition to whether or not you’ll be able to say, for instance, “My schedule is packed right now so I’m just going to join for the first half of this call since those look like the agenda items you’ll need me for.”
