At ad agency FCB Chicago, there are no meeting Wednesdays.
The bustling ad agency whose clients include Boeing, Coca-Cola, Fiat and Discover has decided to axe Wednesday meetings for the foreseeable future. (And no, not Axe, the Millennial gag-magnet.)
Astutely named “Meeting Free Wednesdays,” the company decided to say sayonara to time-wasting get togethers. Why? Not for eliminating greenhouse gases, but because everyone hates meetings. Every Wednesday is meeting free at FCB Chicago. Except for it’s only from 1 to 5 in the afternoon. And if they don’t like it they can bring meetings back – to fill that time they get to do other work, which they hate too.
According to the memo the CCO and CEO sent out to the company, the employees spoke and they heard loud and clear: We are done with meetings! But then again there are those who as so very proud of their filled calendars.
Here’s the memo:
RE: Introducing Meeting Free Wednesdays
You spoke. We heard. As such, we are excited to announce “Meeting Free Wednesdays” at FCB Chicago!
Beginning next month, we are encouraging all of you to go meeting free each Wednesday from 1-5 p.m. This new initiative is in response to employee feedback that too many meetings are interfering with their ability to complete work during office hours—but now, you can! Please do your best to NOT call any client or internal meetings on Wednesday afternoons in April. We’re both very committed to this policy, and will not schedule meetings during this time.
To help encourage everyone to use this time for work, we will be sending out an agency-wide calendar invite blocking Wednesday afternoons. Look out for the first one—taking place on April 4. HR will also be conducting a survey at the end of April to ask for your thoughts on how we can continue to make Meeting Free Wednesday better—and most importantly, meeting free.
We value your happiness and well-being, and hope this new initiative helps everyone achieve a better work-life balance!
Best,
Michael & Liz
Nice work Michael & Liz. Those who love kvetching about meetings can fuss about something else each Wednesday.
-Howard Davidson, Arlington, MA