Happy Friday! Aren’t you glad it isn’t Wednesday??
Of course you are … but you wouldn’t be saying that if you worked at FCB Chicago this week.
That’s because the agency officially instituted a new “Meeting Free Wednesdays” policy today. You heard that right, readers: no meetings on Wednesdays. Zilch, zero, nada. Period.
Welllllll, that’s not QUITE accurate. This new policy only applies from 1 to 5, and if staff members totally hate it then it could theoretically end on May 1st. Something also tells us that certain clients might have trouble observing these new guidelines, but you never know.
Why are they doing this, you ask? Because everyone hates meetings, especially when you’ve got other work to do, which is always. (This principle applies to media too, by the way.)
Should be interesting to see how well it works.
Here’s the full memo from CCO Liz Taylor and president/CEO Michael Fassnacht.
March 2, 2018
To: FCB Chicago
Fm: Michael & Liz
RE: Introducing Meeting Free Wednesdays
You spoke. We heard. As such, we are excited to announce “Meeting Free Wednesdays” at FCB Chicago!
Beginning next month, we are encouraging all of you to go meeting free each Wednesday from 1-5 p.m. This new initiative is in response to employee feedback that too many meetings are interfering with their ability to complete work during office hours—but now, you can! Please do your best to NOT call any client or internal meetings on Wednesday afternoons in April. We’re both very committed to this policy, and will not schedule meetings during this time.
To help encourage everyone to use this time for work, we will be sending out an agency-wide calendar invite blocking Wednesday afternoons. Look out for the first one—taking place on April 4. HR will also be conducting a survey at the end of April to ask for your thoughts on how we can continue to make Meeting Free Wednesday better—and most importantly, meeting free.
We value your happiness and well-being, and hope this new initiative helps everyone achieve a better work-life balance!
Best,
Michael & Liz