Open wide: 61% prefer dentist to consecutive meetings

Something for the weekend: Do back-to-back work meetings set your teeth on edge? Well, you are not alone, as recent research revealed that, given the choice, 61% of employees would prefer a trip to the dentist to having consecutive meetings, whether in person or virtually.

The survey also showed some noticeable regional differences in the level of aversion and anxiety staff feel towards rolling meetings, or indeed their enjoyment of a brush with the dentist. While only 38% of workers in Derby preferred back-to-back meetings to having their pearly whites inspected, an impressive 82% of Sunderland’s workers were most likely to opt for having some dentistry done, closely followed by 80% of Coventry and Walsall staff. Let’s hope they enjoy the benefits of a comprehensive dental plan as this aversion to meetings could impact badly on their financial wellness.

So why is the prospect of lying under a glaringly bright light, wearing googles and intermittently drooling into a paper bib, while having your dental nerves tortured by a high-powered drill and being asked questions you are physically incapable of answering, preferable to back-to-back meetings, you might ask.

According to the survey the secret may lie in the way meetings make many workers feel, with 37% of respondents revealing that two meetings in a row were most likely to make them feel low on energy, 31% saying it gave them a sense of stress and 18% noting consecutive meetings made them feel distracted. You know the drill.

Sam Liang, co-founder and CEO of Otter.ai, commented: “The fact that Brits choose the dentist over back-to-back meetings clearly shows that meetings need to be adapted to suit our new working environment, whether that is fundamentally changing their structure or empowering employees with productivity and collaboration tools that help with real-time meeting notes.

“Meetings can be productive and helpful but they should meet employees where they’re at. Employees now demand a flexible, collaborative and hybrid work set up that meets the new work-life balance and changing attitudes created by working from home for such a long period.”

Here at Employee Benefits our floss-ophy on meetings is that, while they are invaluable communication tools, tooth be told, we prefer them earlier in the day, having to brace ourselves for any conferencing after tooth-hurty.