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Importance of downtime during business hours

Productive meetings mean more engaged employees and improved business performance. Sometimes less is more – building some down time into business meetings can have a far better effect than jam-packed schedules.

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Unproductive meetings are said to cost UK businesses £26 million per year. Not only do employees feel less engaged at the end of an unproductive meeting, business time and resources have also been wasted. If the opposite scenario were true and productive meetings were the norm, businesses and their people would be significantly better off. The key to productive business meetings lies in proper scheduling – which includes ensuring the meeting isn’t all work and no play.

Looking after employees and the people you do business with, maintains health, wellbeing and motivation. Carefully crafting a business meeting agenda that meets the needs of the business, whilst ensuring attendees aren’t chained to the meeting table, is the best way forward. Do this and you’ll already be leaps and bounds ahead of others. An astonishing 63% of business meetings don’t have a planned agenda, and 45% of business meeting attendees admit their minds wander during such meetings.

Find out more about our Business Boost Package 

By breaking up a business meeting into smaller sessions, it’s easier to pinpoint the focus of each session. Asking someone from outside the business to moderate the meeting and keep discussions on-topic is a good idea for further efficiency. In between each mini-session in a meeting, give attendees the opportunity to clear their minds. Have hot drinks and water available for them to help themselves to, and offer healthy snacks that will boost rather than sap energy levels. Being able to enjoy five minutes of fresh air is also hugely beneficial, so host your business meeting in a location that makes this easy and inspiring.

At The Runnymede on Thames, we’ve designed the Business Boost Package to tackle the problems associated with unproductive meetings. Everything about this package is about health, wellbeing and improving the productivity of business visitors. To get things started, our business meeting rooms have energising aromatherapy reed diffusers inside – proven to increase productivity and focus. We also provide healthy platters of fresh fruit and unlimited, healthy snacks to help break up the day.

Most temptingly, in addition, we also offer express treatments to business visitors throughout the day. These 15-minute shoulder and upper back massages or scalp massages can be woven into your agenda, so everyone has the chance to unwind and re-group at some point during the day. This works particularly well during group-work exercises – when attendees can shift focus for a while, work on something practical in smaller teams and squeeze in a revitalising treatment at the same time.

Our Business Boost Package also includes a seasonal buffet lunch in our Leftbank restaurant by the River Thames, free parking, complimentary Wi-Fi and all the technology you’d expect from a meeting room. Overnight guests also receive dinner, 4* overnight accommodation, breakfast and full use of our award-winning spa.

Change business meetings from being the bane of your colleagues’ lives to revitalising occasions to which to look forward to. Giving everyone a healthy boost may just revolutionise your business and the people who make it successful.

Find out more about our Business Boost Package 

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