The Antidote → Working Meetings

Fake Work & The Zombie Meeting

Boost Productivity with Working Meetings. Is your team stuck in unproductive meetings that drain time and energy? Atlassian’s Scott Farquhar highlights a growing issue—Zombie Meetings. Discover how working meetings can transform productivity and collaboration in the hybrid work era.

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Say Goodbye to Zombie Meetings

Scott Farquhar, co-founder of Atlassian, recently criticised Amazon’s return-to-office mandate, arguing that rigid workplace policies aren’t the solution to productivity issues. His point ties directly into a growing problem in many companies: Zombie Meetings — meetings where a lot is said, but little actual work gets done.

Zombie meetings have become common as organisations try to stay connected and aligned, especially in remote or hybrid work setups. But these meetings lead to employees scrambling to catch up on actual work outside of regular hours, causing burnout, reduced productivity, and declining work quality. Yet, the solution isn’t new—it’s been forgotten: working meetings!

Scott Farquhar Atlassian

Rediscovering Working Meetings

Working meetings, where real work happens during the meeting itself, are not a novel idea but one that’s often neglected. Instead of leaving a meeting with a list of tasks and rushing to the next meeting, participants complete the tasks in real time. This immediate action boosts collaboration, decision-making, and execution.

Organisations, especially in the shift to remote work, have defaulted to more meetings, hoping to maintain connection, engagement and control. However, this has backfired. By relying on zombie meetings, companies have inadvertently drained productivity, as meetings dominate the day and actual work is pushed to early mornings, lunch breaks, or late evenings.

At EPiC we are seeing companies blame the WFH arrangements for reduced productivity – however, as an organisation that works with many companies at once, we’ve seen that this doesn’t have to be the case.

Embracing Working Meetings via Video

The modern workplace, especially with the rise of remote work and video conferencing, is actually perfectly suited for working meetings. Teams can collaborate and execute tasks in real-time without the need to physically relocate. Ironically, many companies still ask employees to leave their workstations—where the real work happens—to gather in meeting rooms to discuss actions, only to return to their desks later to complete the work. This not only wastes time with unnecessary travel and interruptions but also pulls people away from where the work is actually done!

In contrast, working meetings held online allow employees to stay at their workstations, cutting down on disruptions and travel time, while increasing productivity. Yet, as Scott Farquhar from Atlassian pointed out, some organisations blame working from home (WFH) for reduced productivity. The real issue, however, isn’t WFH itself but rather the persistence of fake work—where companies overload employees with unproductive meetings that result in more talk than action. These companies fail to adapt their working models to focus.

The Impact of Adapting

There’s a clear divide between companies that blame WFH for productivity dips and those that have embraced remote working and adapted their ‘working models’ to take advantage of the remote worker. The former rely on unproductive meetings to stay in-touch, while the latter have adapted to remote collaboration and real-time task completion, seeing increases in both quality and productivity.

If your organisation is struggling with productivity in a remote or hybrid environment, it’s time to reassess your approach. Rather than relying on outdated models of endless meetings and rigid in-office policies, consider adopting more flexible, value-driven practices like working meetings.

At EPiC we’ve developed specific Work Patterns to combat Zombie Meetings, helping our customers assess their working arrangements, reduce the meeting burden, and improve collaboration efforts, all while leveraging the advantages of hybrid work environments.

Empower your teams to work smarter, not harder by implementing these proven patterns that drive real outcomes and foster collaboration, regardless of location. By shifting your focus towards action and real-time task completion, your organisation can thrive in the remote work era, improving both productivity and employee satisfaction. Don’t let zombie meetings drain your team’s potential—take action now and unlock the full value of your workforce.