Constant meetings at work, struggling with workload

[officewear]

I started my first office job at the end of August and I'm already struggling with my workload and planning my day.

I have lots of meetings on Teams that I have to attend. Today I have 3 hours of meetings in a 7.5 hour work day. Each meeting is spaced apart by 30-60 minutes, so by the time I get stuck into the task and in the flow of it I have a meeting to attend.

I'm also struggling now that I have lots of projects to work on, all at different stages.

Today I have three deadlines, all being chased up and I just don't have time to properly finish them.

Does anyone have any advice?

It won't help with today but if you need time to do some tasks and need a block then you put a slot in your own diary for it. I have to do reporting at a month end and have today marked 'hold month end reporting' as people will expect their reports by end of day- I've still got some meetings but the people booking them checked I was happy to go ahead before booking as my diary showed I was 'busy'. It won't fix everything but might help

Do you deal with customers/clients? Or are all the meetings with internal people?

I would arrange a meeting with your line manager to discuss workload and diary management. Is this a typical day? Are all the meetings necessary?

My days are like this and so are the majority of my wider team. But our days aren't 3 hours in calls out of a 7.5hr day, it's more like 5-8 hours in calls, 4 days a week minimum.

I have a very similar issue at work which I am finding hard to manage also. I returned from mat leave in august into a role which had changed so much I barely recognised it (while I was off we recruited 40 additional staff and everything became 1000 times busier) What I sometimes do is put myself on ‘do not disturb’ on teams and dedicate a block of time to certain tasks when I won’t be bothered by anyone else. I also use (in conjunction with formal project plans) the notes function on ms office to keep a running list of little tasks which I review everyday so I don’t miss the small things. I have also asked colleagues to cover the odd meeting for me when I can, or have requested minutes in retrospect if I cannot attend due to other priorities. I have been honest with my manager about my workload, and have had positions made available in my team for more staff, because she listened. However, they are not in post yet, so I am just about surviving and getting things done, but not making any real progress other than the basics. If you haven’t talked to your boss that would be a great place to start; there is no way I would be able to carry on unless I knew things were going to improve. If your manager won’t help, then it’s probably best to manage expectations about what you will be able to deliver.
Finally, do you work from home? what I would also say I, just being at your laptop for 7.5 hours sometimes doesn’t (for me anyway) result in 7.5 hours of work (especially if project /paper work) ive found myself more productive when I genuinely do take breaks. I also like to turn my camera off in meetings when I can so I fidget about, walk around, do weights at my desk etc so I don’t feel so tired and worn out from the desk life x
Hope things get better for you

Are you in control of the meetings? As in do you set them up? If so I'd recommend only ever setting them for 30 minutes. Obviously for larger projects / topics you might sometimes need the hour but in most cases I was finding in my team that people are putting in an hour because it's just what they are used to.

Are any of them repeat catch ups about the same topic? Make those less than weekly where possible. Again I found in my team that people were putting in one to ones or regular catch ups in on a weekly basis just because that seemed like the right thing to do. I now do mine every 2 weeks unless it's a fast moving project or is a one to one to with a line report who needs more support.

Finally, consider if you really need to be at every meeting you're invited to. Are you a contributor? Are you going to need to hear the info being discussed and do something with it? Or is someone maybe adding you the attendee list because they've not really thought it through and just chucked you on there? Don't be afraid to say no to meetings if there really is no point you being there.

This is all stuff I've advised people in my team to do over the years when they've had similar problems with too many meetings and I also sometimes have to have a word with myself to remember to practice what I preach!

Am
In a similar role with similar demands. I work from
A to do list and prioritise things and cross them off when done. This helps relieve some stress and also keeps me on track. If things are too much I’d speak to your manager. Plan your day, use a diary. Check it at the beginning of the day for what is going on that day

NEVER attend a meeting for the full 60 mins on teams unless you're either leading it or fundamental to it, request to be pinged for a ten minute slot or refuse to attend unless there is an agenda and only attend if you think its relevant.

My boss does this and it was a bloody revelation!

Are you able to decline these meetings? Are these meetings in any way productive or is your office culture one of holding a meeting means your “working”.

Sometimes some office culture hold meetings to make it look like they are doing something. If these meetings can be done over email then why not send an email. If it’s a recurring meeting to exchange info that no one really needs or uses, then send an email.

I’m against this sort of thing because it decreases everyone’s productivity and it costs money. How much does it take to hold everyone in your office hostage for an hour for a “meeting” that should really just be an email?

Address it with your manager and explain that you feel there is a culture of “meetings just for the sake of meetings” that don’t serve a purpose and that it is eating to your time to actually do work.

It sounds like it’s an office culture problem and not you. They need to find a way to exchange information, hold meetings that are relevant and useful, and cut down on time wasting time filling meetings.

I would start asking for an agenda and ask the person asking for the meeting what the desired outcome of the meeting is. If it’s just to “discuss it at the next meeting” then sorry, that’s a waste of time.