Auckland Agency Declares Meeting-Free Week, Immediately Books 14 Alignment Sessions to Discuss It
AUCKLAND — In a bold move to improve employee wellbeing and reclaim productivity, boutique creative agency Sloth & Falcon has instituted a company-wide Meeting-Free Week. The initiative was intended to give staff uninterrupted time to focus deeply, reconnect with their creativity, and finally clean out the ‘Inspiration’ folder bloated with 2017 Pinterest quotes.
However, within 24 hours of announcing the initiative, the agency booked 14 mandatory sessions across five calendars to discuss the rollout, alignment, risk mitigation, and ‘emotional readiness’ of staff. One senior account manager, who requested anonymity out of fear of Slack retaliation, reported spending six hours in meetings to confirm there were no meetings.
"We just need to make sure everyone’s on the same page not having meetings," said Marley Johanssen, Chief Flow State Evangelist, during a 90-minute pre-read of the Meeting-Free debrief. "Also, we’re rolling out a daily non-meeting stand-up to check in on how not-meeting is going. Cameras on please."
An internal Slack thread titled 'MFWeekChaos' has grown to 213 responses, including a heated sub-thread on whether dropping calendar placeholders counts as a breach. The company says it will use AI-driven analytics (not for surveillance, just insights) to track if productivity increases or if everyone just rewatched the Air New Zealand safety videos out of irony.
However, within 24 hours of announcing the initiative, the agency booked 14 mandatory sessions across five calendars to discuss the rollout, alignment, risk mitigation, and ‘emotional readiness’ of staff. One senior account manager, who requested anonymity out of fear of Slack retaliation, reported spending six hours in meetings to confirm there were no meetings.
"We just need to make sure everyone’s on the same page not having meetings," said Marley Johanssen, Chief Flow State Evangelist, during a 90-minute pre-read of the Meeting-Free debrief. "Also, we’re rolling out a daily non-meeting stand-up to check in on how not-meeting is going. Cameras on please."
An internal Slack thread titled 'MFWeekChaos' has grown to 213 responses, including a heated sub-thread on whether dropping calendar placeholders counts as a breach. The company says it will use AI-driven analytics (not for surveillance, just insights) to track if productivity increases or if everyone just rewatched the Air New Zealand safety videos out of irony.