An Australian University study has shown that companies are wasting huge amounts of money on inefficient meetings. 

The study conducted by the University of South Australia discovered that one in three workers admitted to falling asleep in meetings while 87% said they daydream and 26% said they did other work. 

Terry Robbins-Jones, head of the Universities' school of accounting and information systems says face-to-face meetings are costing Australian businesses a whopping A$19bn a year. "People spend well over 50% of their time working with other people - making it the single most expensive activity in the business world - and yet we know nothing about it," he said. "Bearing in mind that collaboration - including the time spent in face-to-face meetings - probably accounts for well over half the total costs of any organisation, companies should be thinking about having a budget for it or monitoring how effectively it operates," he added.

The University of South Australia study found that 46% of executives felt meetings were a good use of time, while 33% felt that - at best - they were fairly productive. These figures suggest that utilising a "meeting auditor" or "collaborative advocate" could produce cost savings and increased productivity benefits.

For some strategies on making the most of your meeting time click here.