To think its pretty bloody stupid that I have to take a day off sick so

[notanothercold]

I can get some bloody work done.....meetings all bloody day!

[hester]

Ah yes, I've been there many times.

[Ciske]

In my experience a lot of meetings involve a lot more people than are actually criticial to make the decisions and take too long.

My advice is to take a long critical look at all those meetings and ask if you really need to be there. Is someone else from your team present who can give the same input? Can it become a short conference call instead of a face to face? Do you need to be in the whole meeting or can you attend briefly at the start to give your update?

Learn to say No and negotiate, it's one of the most important lessons I've learned at work.

[notanothercold]

These are compulsory/team meetings ciske

[TheOriginalFAB]

YANBU but you could do something about it rather than calling in sick. Talk to your boss about what isn't being done while you are in meetings and maybe ask if you can work from home one day a week to get more done.

[Northernlurkerr]

Your entire working week is made up of team meetings?

I don't think calling in sick when you aren't is ever justifiable btw.

[notanothercold]

Unfortunately we have been forbidden to work from home and this is a peak time for planning :( So Im hiding.

[notanothercold]

This week is northern...and I only work 3 days a week

[MrsSnaplegs]

Try suggesting everyone stands up for the meetings they take a lot less time

[cjbartlett]

Are you a manager?

[AlpinePony]

Are you public sector? ;)

BTW, sick is sick.

[notanothercold]

No, not quite cj

[notanothercold]

Yes I work in a Uni alpine good guess

[cantspel]

So these meetings are part of your job and you are pulling a sickie to duck out of them?

Never justifiable and an abuse of self certification for illness. Go to work and speak to your manager about the fact you are failing behind with your work due to these extra meetings.

[Andrewofgg]

"Meetings take minutes and waste hours"

[cjbartlett]

Your manager will know you did all your work while you were 'sick' though
Or will they think fairies do it?

[GypsyMoth]

Yes, they will know you aren't really sick.

[notanothercold]

FWIW I did cough and splutter through yesterday's offerings

[Thumbwitch]

I remember well when we started having team meetings in the lab to try and improve efficiency...
oh how we larfed.

[Ciske]

If they are compulsory meetings, then tally up the hours, add the hours you need in addition to that to deal with your other work, and take that evidence to your manager to prove your workload is too high.

If you hide the problem by taking sick days, it'll never go away and in fact, you will make it worse. Your line manager will now think you can deal with all the meetings, do your other work and STILL have a day's sick in there. This week will be evidence that there is slack in your workstack, because they don't know you were working on your sick day.

[MamaChocoholic]

hate the excess meetings. at my last job the head of dept was always at least 30 mins late, so that would waste an additional 10 hours (20 people in the lab meeting). awful.

but really you should be proactive. talk about the meeting culture, and whether it can be changed. we get lots more done in my current job where meetings always start/end on time, and are kept to a minimum, and a minimum of people. if I'm invited to (imo) unnecessary meetings, I do now say that I don't think I can contribute and only go if it's insisted upon.

[ohbabybaby]

I notice you say you work 3 days a week - so a day of compulsary meetings takes up 1/5 of a full timer's working week but 1/3 of yours. (No solution for you just an observation!)

[Snorbs]

I feel your pain - I've had jobs like that. I do agree with tallying up hours spent in meetings vs hours spent doing productive work. Then go to your boss with that list and say "This is the situation, I suggest I drop out of meetings x, y and z so I can crack on with projects a, b and c" and then lay it on thick as to why those projects are so important for making your boss look good the organisation.

Years ago I was told that the most productive meetings by far were those that were held in the car park at 5:30pm on a rainy Friday. And with no more than half a dozen people in attendance. There's a lot of truth in that.