If it is true that employees spend 31 hours per month being unproductive in meetings, well that should tell us something. Of course questions like: are the right people attending a given meeting, is the meeting lead responsibly and effectively, is the purpose of the meeting clear etc. Let us assume the meeting is called for and needed, there is a proper agenda and the right people are present. The article ”The Effects of Stand-Up and Sit-Down Meeting Formats on Meeting outcome” (published in 1999 by American Psychological Association, Inc.) not only concludes that standing meetings are 34% shorter than sitting meetings, but also sitting meetings did not produce better results despite the extra time.
The Atlassian summarizes some very interesting facts in their Time Wasting at Work infographic, and these findings indicate that large savings are potentially found here. Back to the 31 hours spent in unproductive meetings, if meeting duration is reduced by 34%, standing meetings alone could save 10 hours per month per employee… you do the math…