Office workers spend an average of 15 hours per week in meetings and as a result are devising quirky and ingenious ways to break up ‘meeting monotony’, according to a survey by the latest survey from Office Angels.

The survey of 1,500 office workers suggests that over two thirds (68%) admit having a pre-meeting routine where they always try and sit in the same position in the room, grab their favourite biscuit on offer and discuss the latest episode of their favourite soap opera.

Increasingly, however, in a bid to liven up the time spent in meetings, office workers are resorting to more covert maverick rituals, with the current top five:

1. Including a song lyric or song title in the discussion (56%). Current popular favourites include “Can you fill me in” (Craig David), “Better the devil you know” (Kylie Minogue) “Manic Monday” (The Bangles) and “Money’s Too Tight To Mention” (Simply Red)

2. Playing ‘business spiel’ bingo which involves using the most trite business jargon i.e ‘lets take this offline’ and ‘thinking outside the box’ (31%)

3. Incorporating a private joke about a client or boss (24%)

4. Using nick names for their colleagues (17%)

5. Teasing a colleague about a previous incident that had embarrassing consequences (9%)

Nearly three quarters (73%) claim two out of five meetings they attend are irrelevant and they would feel more productive at their desks.

Paul Jacobs, Managing Director of Office Angels says: “In contrast to emails and phone calls, meetings are an invaluable forum for pooling ideas and resources plus reaching group decisions. However, unless there is advance planning and management of the meeting it can be a waste of time. Given our increasing reliance on technology, meetings offer precious ‘face to face’ time with colleagues so their potential value needs to be maximised.”

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