Knowledge‑workers spend roughly one working day every week, or 23% of their time, in a meeting. The weight of the workday often prevents employees from having uninterrupted time to concentrate, causing them to extend their hours well beyond the traditional 9-to-5.
It’s tempting for companies to embrace the appeal of “no meetings,” hoping the extra time will lead to more focused work. But does eliminating meetings actually work?
Grace Williams, VP of Client Relations of the PR agency PANBlast, convinced her leadership team to cancel all meetings for a week. With over 20 meetings filling more than half her schedule, Grace saw a “no meetings week” as a chance to get meaningful work done while relieving some Zoom fatigue.
The result? While some employees missed social interactions and struggled with understanding workload, 92% of employees said they’d like to repeat the experiment again later that year.
So, what’s the right move for companies?” Should they dedicate a day each week to deep work, or test a full week without meetings? And in an era of improved collaboration tools and smarter calendar management, is the real opportunity in small refinements rather than sweeping changes?
Here, representatives from companies of all sizes share how they’re rethinking meeting culture.
Consider one day of deep work
I brought a “No-Meeting Fridays” policy with me when I joined Tormach two years ago—the rest of the company adopted it soon after. The result? Higher productivity, no communication gaps, and a noticeable shift in morale. People use Fridays to catch up on emails, finish admin tasks, and tie up loose ends, which clears the mental clutter before the weekend. It also creates a natural incentive to finish collaborative work by Thursday, so deadlines tend to be hit earlier.
The idea came from my experience at larger companies, where Friday meetings were often canceled last-minute by leadership, throwing off your day and your mindset. It felt inefficient and frustrating, so I decided to flip that script and just eliminate the expectation of meetings altogether.
We stay connected through Microsoft Teams, and Friday has organically become a day when people share weekly wins in our channels—keeping communication flowing while still honoring deep work time.
Heather Curtis, Director of Sales and Marketing, Tormach
Give employees tools to step out of meetings
No meeting policies and no meeting weeks should be a thing of the past thanks to AI.
Instead of an all-or-nothing approach that limits how people want to work, instead give them the tools to step out of meetings that they can miss, while still ensuring they get the information they need. It’s all infinitely more possible today.
When teams implement an AI meeting copilot, individuals naturally attend 20% fewer meetings nearly immediately, while still getting access to the content via shared meeting reports and connected enterprise search. No one even has to review meeting minutes any longer; you simply prompt your knowledge base for the information you need, and move through your day faster.
David Shim, Cofounder and CEO, Read AI
Anchor the week with written, public commitments
Growth requires speed, and meetings were slowing us down. So, we implemented a complete no-meeting policy for five consecutive business days. No regular standups, check-ins, or even “quick” calls. We structured it like a sprint, with each participant committing to one key project for the week and sharing it in a Slack thread Monday morning.
Output during that week doubled compared to a typical week, as measured by the number of campaigns launched and features delivered. It felt electric. However, by Friday, we realized that relationships had suffered slightly; informal collaboration and creative riffing were almost nonexistent without real-time chats.
To ensure long-term success, anchor the week with written, public commitments. At beehiiv, we require a Monday kickoff post and a Friday recap. Without that, a lack of meetings simply makes people invisible, and invisibility kills momentum faster than meetings ever could.
Edward White, Head of Growth, beehiiv
Get buy-in from the top down
Shift has implemented Deep Work Wednesdays for over a year for the entire company. The key to a successful no-meeting policy is to first achieve true buy-in from the top down. It’s often at the leadership level where schedules get busy and meeting invites get scheduled just to find the time when no one has meetings booked.
Individual team members also look to the company’s leadership to assess how committed they should be to new company policies or changes in their workflow. The long-term success of a company’s no-meeting policy is reliant on those at the top setting the right tone and leading by example.
Sabrina Banadyga, VP of Marketing, Shift
Be intentional about meetings
Thoughtful meeting habits aren’t about cutting things out entirely, but it is about being intentional. I’m ruthless about only attending meetings with a clear agenda and purpose. If something can be shared as ongoing communication, instead of a separate meeting, it should be. If I can empower someone to move forward without me, even better.
My advice? Lead by example. Defend your calendar, prioritize deep work, and normalize the idea that not being in every meeting can actually be a sign of a strong, empowered and trusted team, not a disengaged one.
Jean-Christophe Taunay-Bucalo (JC), President and COO at TravelPerk
