After releasing research conducted in the U.S., SurveyMonkey fielded a complementary set of surveys in France, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom to examine whether what workers in each country say could improve virtual and in-person meetings.
Here's what we found:
- Virtual meetings are likely to continue stateside at greater rates
- Americans are more likely (58%) than the French (52%), the British (51%) and the Dutch (48%) to expect to have the same amount of or more virtual meetings in the future.
- Who is asked for meeting input varies widely by country; French cite being asked most often.
- French workers are most likely to have been asked for input about meetings they regularly attend (68%), then the Dutch (59%), Americans (54%) and lastly, less than half of British employees (46%) have been asked.
- Top-cited keys to better meetings across all countries are having an agenda and keeping meetings short; French cite having time for everyone to share at highest rates.
- Having an agenda: 54% U.S., 53% U.K., 42% Netherlands, 35% France
- Keeping meetings short: 55% U.K., 53% U.S. and Netherlands, 40% France
- Ensuring everyone has time to share: 44% France, 31% U.K., 30% Netherlands, 22% U.S.
- Employees in the U.K. see the most utility in employee feedback to shape in-person meetings coming out of the pandemic.
- Across all four countries, 70% of workers in the U.K., 67% in the U.S., 57% in France and 55% in the Netherlands find it extremely or very useful, when it comes to returning to in-person work, to gather feedback on how to shape meetings.
Key highlights by country:
- In the United Kingdom, many (66%) workers believe that feedback would make work meetings better and specifically, 70% find employee feedback on how to shape meetings as people return to work in-person to be extremely or very useful. Yet less than half (46%) of U.K. workers have ever been asked for feedback about meetings regularly attended.
- In France, most workers have been asked for feedback about meetings they regularly attend (68%) and similar shares (64%) say that gathering this input makes meetings better. French workers’ top suggestion for making work meetings better is ensuring everyone has time to share (44%) .
- In the Netherlands, 55% find it extremely or very useful to gather feedback from employees to shape in-person meetings as people return to work; 65% at the largest organisations (5,000+).
Side-by-side toplines for each country are available here.
Methodology:
United States data: This analysis is based on SurveyMonkey online polls conducted among adults aged 18 and older in the United States. Respondents were selected from the more than 2 million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. Data have been weighted for age, race, sex, education and geography using the United States Census Bureau’s American Community Survey to reflect the demographic composition of those aged 18 and over.
UK data: This SurveyMonkey poll was conducted online from 18-20 May, 2021 among a total sample of 1,671 adults aged 18 and over living in the United Kingdom. Respondents for these surveys were selected from more than two million people who take surveys on the SurveyMonkey platform each day. The modeled error estimate for the full sample is plus or minus 3 percentage points. Data have been weighted for age, gender, education and geography using U.K. Census data to reflect the demographic composition of the United Kingdom aged 18 and over.
France and Netherlands data: SurveyMonkey used a third-party panel provider to obtain the sample with quotas for gender, age and region, where available. Both surveys were conducted in-language with the option to take the survey in English.
Additional details by country are noted in the table below:
