Reducing non-value-added time in virtual meetings : A case study at Lynk & Co

Abstract: The Covid-19 pandemic resulted in organizations rapidly shifting from physical- to virtual meetings to keep their business going. However, with this came challenges and efficiency problems that organizations were not aware of. This master thesis focuses on identifying and finding potential solutions to reduce non-value-added time in virtual meetings. This was accomplished by studying Lynk & Co, a rapidly growing startup. Data was collected via a company-wide survey. The data was quantitatively analyzed using both univariate, bivariate, and multivariate methods as well as qualitatively analyzed using a thematic analysis approach. The quantitative results showed that 35,2% of the total Hours in meetings per day are hours wasted, this translates to 16% wasted hours per 8 hour work day. Additionally, the quantitative results showed that five independent variables affect the Wasted hours in virtual meetings per day. These were Hours in meetings per day, Key persons not attending the meeting, The meeting could have been replaced with an email,  Focusing on the meeting (I.e., not multitasking), and Being active in the discussions during the meeting. The qualitative results showed that the majority of the respondents highlighted either the same or similar problems and solutions regarding the virtual meeting inefficiencies. These were lack of agendas and insufficient meeting follow-ups. This concludes that the major root cause of the wasted time in virtual meetings was found to be inadequate meeting information combined with inadequate information regarding the work responsibilities of the employees. This resulted in two main recommendations for reducing non-value-added time in virtual meetings in a rapidly growing startup. These are (1) developing an internal meeting policy and (2) incorporating more detailed employee information in the virtual meeting communication software.