This is the most popular day for work meetings

Too many meetings might be putting the hump in your Hump Day.

Turns out Wednesday was the most popular day for work meetings — virtually or IRL — in 2023, according to data from Calendly.

The midweek work-a-thon probably isn’t a big surprise given the dearth of people who roll into the office on Mondays and Fridays. For virtual-only meetings, Tuesday took the top spot.

Maybe more surprising is that there were fewer meetings on weekends this year, which is likely a relief to anyone who’s ever been on a client call when they’d otherwise be scoping out brunch spots or running errands. In-person meetings on Saturdays dropped 17% in 2023 from 2021 while those meetings fell 29% on Sundays over the same period, Calendly found.

The data, pulled in early December, are drawn from more than 20 million users of the company’s scheduling software. About half of Calendly users are based outside the US. The findings were a mix of the mundane — morning meetings aren’t popular — and the unexpected: Nearly a quarter of in-person or virtual meetings took place between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m.

Whatever time it happens, all of this togetherness can add to worker stress. There are hacks to inoculate against meeting overload. But canceling all meetings isn’t advisable because they’re often essential, Ron Hetrick, senior labor economist at the research firm Lightcast, told Business Insider.

“People rip on meetings,” he said. “But there’s a value in meetings.” Hetrick said workers — especially younger ones still learning their way — are forced to mature and to hear people disagree. “I’m seeing how problems get worked out,” he said.

Much of that problem-solving is happening in the afternoon and early evening. Some 86% of meetings took place from 2 p.m. to 6 p.m., Calendly reported.

Beyond staying on till late in the workday, there’s evidence that more of us might be trading our Sweetgreen for slide decks. Calendly said meetings from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. jumped 48% in 2023 from 2021. Those meetings could include a meal, of course, though skipping lunch is something some Gen Z workers have reported doing. In part, it’s because they’re more likely to worry than their older colleagues that the boss will disapprove of a lunch break, according to BI’s prior reporting.

One piece of advice for people who hate on meetings: Make them virtual. Calendly found that about half of remote meetings are wrapped up in 30 minutes compared with only 31% of in-person ones.

Calendly said more of its users are slapping daily limits on their get-togethers. The average cap: six meetings.

While meetings can have value, too many on the calendar can make us overly focused on checking off tasks and less willing to collaborate, André Martin, an organizational psychologist and author of “Wrong Fit, Right Fit,” told BI. This might mean we skip asking about coworkers’ days or how we might help them solve problems.

“We’re in danger of giving up a lot of those things that allow us to have kind of the depth of relationship we need to do really good work,” Martin said.

When our calendar is bursting with meetings, it also makes it harder to change gears from one to the next — what Martin calls context shifting. “You can’t go back-to-back-to-back. We’re terrible at context shifting,” he said. “If I get to the backend of this meeting, and I go into the next one, I spend the first 15 minutes just trying to find my feet.”