Meetings take time, and many people feel that time could be spent on more productive pursuits. If your meetings seem to be an endless cycle of wasted time and frustrated employees, you’re not alone. A study conducted by researchers at the University of North Carolina found that:

• 65% of industry leaders said meetings keep them from completing their work
• 71% said meetings are inefficient
• 64% said meetings interfere with their ability to focus deeply

If meetings are so bad, why do we have so many?

According to organizational psychologists, there are several reasons we keep having meetings, even when those meetings are unproductive. Writing in the Harvard Business Review, a team of organizational psychologists blames the popular acronym FOMO—fear of missing out—for this. People think they’re going to miss out on important information or the ability to meet key contacts if they don’t attend every meeting.

“Interestingly,” the article notes, “meeting FOMO isn’t limited to attendees. It can affect organizers as well, resulting in excessively inflated invite lists. If you’re having a meeting, remember that leaving someone out isn’t an insult if the meeting isn’t relevant to them.”

Meetings frequently interrupt people when they’re focusing on other things. In many cases, they are focused on solving serious problems, and the meeting disrupts their creative flow. When meetings seem to be a waste of time, the effects on your team can be profound. Here are some of the side effects of this phenomenon.

• Stress and anxiety: While some stress energizes people, too much can cause anxiety, depression, and sleep disorders.
• Lower morale: People forced to attend time-wasting meetings develop negative feelings about the company.
• Information overload: Some meetings present a barrage of information that people can’t absorb. This turns them off and defeats the purpose of the meeting.
• Multitasking: Making people multitask during meetings can affect their ability to think. Studies have found that people who multitask are less productive than those who focus on one thing.

Multitasking also affects empathy and emotional balance.

There are two solutions to meeting-related stress:

• Hold fewer meetings
• Have more productive meetings

Look at your regularly scheduled meeting list. Is every meeting really necessary? Similarly, look at the list of people required to attend each meeting. Can you cut some people from those lists?

The second step is harder—but it’s also more rewarding. You can learn to hold meetings that are enjoyable and productive.

Is it possible to make meetings work? It is. At MeetingResult, we provide the in-depth training, software, and other materials you need to transform your meetings. Meeting overload is real, and we can help you find a solution.