Why Companies Should Hold Weekly Staff Meetings

Helen Lee Schifter, the former Wall Street Arbitrage Trader and former editor of Hearst and Conde Nast is all about grace. She regularly writes about things such as Japanese Tea Ceremonies to help individuals stay balanced.

However, Schifter is all about maintaining balance at work as well, and that’s why she argues for the necessity of holding weekly staff meetings.  In general, most companies do hold weekly staff meetings. At least they did. But since the COVID-19 pandemic, many have gotten out of the practice.

After all, what’s the point of holding a staff meeting if 70 percent or more are working from home. A staff meeting on Zoom can’t duplicate an in-person staff meeting. This brings up one of the most common workplace trends. Now that the cat’s been out of the bag so to speak for working at home, the vast majority of workers, particularly millennials, want work from home to be a permanent feature.

In fact, according to US Today, nearly 30 percent of workers have the intention of quitting and finding a new job if they are forced to go back to work at the office. And although they were reluctant at first due to trust issues, managers and human resources people are now becoming more and more comfortable with the idea of employees working at home.

It seems that only employees that are fairly new to the company seem to have an emotional need for working in the office. As a consequence, you can expect that even after the pandemic subsides, that companies will be forced, and actually may expect workers to work at home. (After all, some figures report that companies save $11,000 per employee by working at home.)

However, as much as the world of work may change, Helen Lee Schifter believes that having employees check in at least once per week at weekly staff meetings seems more vital than ever.

And not just for the business but also for the employee. By having employees who work at home attend a weekly staff meeting, their career opportunities for advancement are ensured. They don’t risk being out of sight, therefore out of mind when career opportunities are available.

At the same time, weekly staff meetings help everyone keep up to snuff on new company policies and directives. Another reason for weekly staff meetings is that without them, new directions and opportunities for the company can be discussed.

In order to expand and grow, companies need to discuss what is working and not working now, and how to fix certain problem areas. They cannot really do that if many of the key players are working at home and rarely come to the office.

In addition, when it comes to discussing new opportunities available, such as a merger or a new campaign, it’s vital to have the back and forth feedback and dialogue that a weekly staff meeting provides.

It’s not necessary that staff meetings be terribly long or boring. But they have a definite and legitimate place in nearly every business no matter what the size.