We surveyed hundreds of employees to discover the factors that most impact workplace productivity.

Americans are working harder than ever, and have less to show for it

The Work-Life survey of full-time executives at Fortune 500 companies highlighting a concerning trend: Americans are spending more hours connected to work and missing out on their personal lives to not be any more productive. Feeling pressure to work overtime is not uncommon, a quarter of all respondents think it’s critical to advance their careers.

The majority of employees work beyond normal business hours and have attended meetings during a holiday

Forty-four percent of executives now work an average of 52 hours a week and that number increases to 58 among senior-level staff, 65% of who report working overtime. And it’s no surprise when you consider over a quarter of employees surveyed admit that they’ve spent 20 hours or more in meetings in a single week. These extra hours don’t necessarily take place in the office either - they’re intruding on personal lives:

While plans with friends and family can be rescheduled and vacations can resume after a call has ended, there are certain milestones and once-in-a-lifetime events that can’t stop for work. Doodle’s survey revealed:

Meetings they attend accomplish nothing

Particularly frustrating for those folks passing up personal plans is that often the meetings they join are poorly managed and didn’t accomplish anything (59%) - or even ones they didn’t need to be in at all (60%). Poorly run meetings lead to disengaged employees and participants turn to other activities to fill the time, including:

It’s unfair to put the blame on meetings themselves - some of the greatest innovations, ideas and companies of our time all started with a meeting. We’re misusing meetings and engaging in them without clear parameters and objectives. For companies experimenting with the four-day work week, productivity actually increased because people had to be much more efficient with their time; big gains were made by capping meeting times, limiting participants and having a clear agenda and purpose.

For tips on how to run better meetings and give employees their time back, check out Doodle’s blog.