Learn how meeting scheduling software can help leaders put employee work-life balance at the forefront. Discover practical ways to fight burnout, promote a culture of innovation, and create a sustainable scheduling process.

In 2020, companies around the world adapted to working during a pandemic. From meeting across time zones to using new communication technology and redefining boundaries between work and home, it’s been a period of challenge and transformation for many workplaces. That’s why it’s crucial that organizational leaders reflect on the future of work and act to make their companies places where employees can thrive in-person, remotely, and in hybrid environments.

We know that many employees are evaluating their workplaces both on company culture and work-life balance — one study found that 30% of workers said they'd give up part of their pay for a better work-life balance. Increasingly, a balance between the professional and the personal is becoming a non-negotiable for employees. Organizations equipped to support employees in this way will fare better in retention and performance.

Part of the way leaders can take action in this new era of work is through championing tools and innovative solutions that ensure their employees’ output and wellbeing.

Meetings — although a cornerstone of company collaboration — can contribute to time-consuming admin processes that drain employee productivity. Poor scheduling habits can plunder your team’s ability to focus, establish personal boundaries, and prioritize meaningful tasks. However, with the right scheduling software, leaders can act on their intentions to improve their workplaces by supporting their employees in protecting and prioritizing their time.

By rethinking how your company meets, you can proactively avoid employee burnout, “Zoom fatigue,” and strengthen company-wide collaboration. Consider the following when evaluating scheduling software and new processes that practically support employee work-life balance.

What is meeting scheduling software?

Scheduling tools are software that automates your meeting scheduling process. As a result, the way your team organizes meetings both internally and with external guests simplifies. A suitable scheduling tool should handle most meeting-related logistics, including adding video conferencing links, finding a time to meet, and meeting preparation tasks.

Rather than surveying for availability or going back and forth in email, scheduling software makes it easy for invitees to see your calendar availability and pick a time to meet. Your team eliminates the busywork associated with meeting coordination, which frees up time and energy for perfecting sales pitches, building key relationships, and other high-value tasks.

Embracing new technology

Ready to add scheduling software to your company’s tech stack? Before you do, take a look at how your company or team currently handles meetings and which behaviours will shift when introducing a new process. Embracing new technology as a company is not just about deployment — it also comes down to culture.

VP of Business Apps at Microsoft, Vahé Torossian, says, “It’s about how leaders create a work environment that enables people to be their best selves at work every single day, adapt to change, [and] how you embrace new ways of working.” (source)

Set your company up for success by reviewing your current process and company culture. Helpful questions to ask:

How are meetings currently scheduled?
Who schedules the majority of meetings in each department?
What is the most cumbersome part of our scheduling process?
How does our scheduling process impact new deals, hiring rates, customer satisfaction, and internal decision-making?
What habits do we need to alter to embrace a more innovative scheduling process?

Boost company adoption of scheduling software by defining areas of improvement in your current scheduling process and promoting a culture of innovation.

Discover 4 easy ways to meet faster as a team →

Save time and set boundaries

Meetings take time, but scheduling shouldn’t. With scheduling software, employees regain hours that would normally go to meeting coordination. If some advanced technologies (i.e. smartphones) have created a situation where employees can be reached at all hours, scheduling technology intervenes, so that employees can protect their time and personalize their schedules.

Book meetings faster

Scheduling software speeds up your company booking process by providing a fast and efficient way for people to meet with your team. Employees used to writing a plethora of scheduling emails, manual invitee follow-up, and spending hours organizing their calendars will benefit from features like automated scheduling, scheduling links, reminders, and meeting briefings.

Ready to meet faster? Explore CalendarHero →

CalendarHero's scheduling software provides users with versatile scheduling methods to suit different meeting goals and working styles. Send an automated meeting request through our AI meeting assistant, share a one-click scheduling link, embed our meeting scheduler on your website, or add CalendarHero directly to your inbox or chat app, including Gmail, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.

With scheduling software, employees skip the "when are you free?" dance. Instead of relaying meeting logistics, your team members can focus on providing value when communicating with clients, prospects, and stakeholders.

Avoid “Zoom fatigue” and have more balance

Make it effortless for employees to block and balance their time. Employees can combat meeting overload with the right scheduling software and features designed to help them regain ownership of their calendars.

Buffer time is a sought-after scheduling feature that ensures users can block time (ex. 15 minutes) before a meeting begins and after it ends. Buffers give users time to take notes, stretch their legs, and prepare before another meeting takes place. Buffer time is a solution to back-to-back meetings and Zoom fatigue that many have struggled with throughout the pandemic.

Safeguard against overbooking

What about overbooking? It’s a common threat to work-life balance, especially for front-facing teams, upper management, and remote employees. With the lines between home and work blurring, forward-thinking leaders can look to scheduling software to assist them in ensuring employees have what they need to take regular breaks, detach from their screens, and shield their personal time from the temptation to over-work.

The right scheduling software provides the operational support needed to help employees safeguard against excessive meetings and balance their schedules.

At CalendarHero, features that help users protect and prioritize their time:

Meeting limits: Add a daily limit to how many meetings can be booked in your calendar.
Lead time: Set a minimum notice before someone can book a meeting in your calendar.
Custom availability window: Set a custom availability window for different types of meetings to control when they’re booked in your calendar.
Daily downtime: Block a percentage of your time every day from meetings to allow for more concentrated work time.

Scheduling software improves your company booking process while also supporting your employees’ boundaries around time. With more ownership over their calendars, employees can better predict their workload, improve focus, and reduce the risk of burnout.

Collaborate faster as a company

It’s no secret that distributed working can create more friction for collaboration and internal decision-making. Scheduling software streamlines how teams meet and collaborate to host meetings with external guests, whether in-person or remotely.

A better way to meet remotely

Thanks to video conferencing platforms, teams can meet face-to-face virtually and keep business moving forward. Without scheduling software, however, video conferencing creates additional admin tasks that take employees away from more meaningful work.

The Easiest and Fastest Way to Schedule Video Meetings →

With scheduling software like CalendarHero, users can automatically add conferencing links from their preferred provider, including Zoom, Cisco Webex, Google, and Microsoft Teams, to any meeting, find the best time to meet, and update their calendars without any manual action.

Share team availability for instant scheduling

This next feature is unique to intelligent scheduling platforms like CalendarHero but can be a game-changer for busy teams who regularly book meetings internally and with external guests.

CalendarHero syncs with your calendar to promote your actual availability and add meetings to your calendar automatically. When scheduling as a team, CalendarHero finds mutual availability right away so that meeting creators have the option to book team meetings instantly.

For complex meetings that include external guests like panel interviews and discovery sessions, CalendarHero’s shared availability options make scheduling incredibly simple.

Shared availability options for teams include:

Round Robin: Assign a meeting to specific team members automatically based on availability and/or invitee preferences.
On-behalf: Schedule a meeting on behalf of a team member using their real-time availability.
Collective: Pool collective availability to enable invitees to self-schedule a meeting with multiple members of your team at once.

With scheduling software, collaborating as a team and hosting multiple attendees becomes much more straightforward.

Simplify your team’s workflow

Tired of constant task switching? Scheduling software can make it easier for your team to meet more by doing less. That’s why another factor to consider when evaluating scheduling software is whether the tool fits within your company’s current tech stack.

Connect scheduling software to your company tech stack

Effectively avoid app fatigue by choosing a scheduling software that works well with your existing company work tools like your calendar app, email service, video conferencing platform as well as role-specific tools like a CRM, ATS, and ticketing software.

Explore CalendarHero’s 60+ App Integrations →

CalendarHero integrates with leading work platforms such as Google, Microsoft, HubSpot, Zendesk, Greenhouse, and ActiveCampaign. When combined with your meeting-related tools, employees can automate even more admin tasks like adding video conferencing links to calendar events, reviewing sales deals while on the go, and updating contact information. As a result, employees save more of their precious time and have fewer admin tasks that distract them from important work.

See a bird’s eye view of your scheduling process

How much do you know about your company’s meeting metrics? Scheduling software can offer employees more insight into their scheduling process related to meeting goals, productivity, and the effectiveness of their scheduling methods.

With CalendarHero, users on a team plan can track their daily, weekly, and monthly meeting data, including the number of meeting requests, scheduled meetings, and cancellations.

Quantify your meeting results with a bird’s eye view into your company-wide meeting process and productivity savings.

Quickly track and update meetings at any stage

Scheduling software helps busy teams effectively manage a high volume of meetings at every stage, from invitation to booked calendar event.

With CalendarHero, users are provided with a tasks page to view active meeting requests (meetings where invitations have been sent but not yet booked) and upcoming meetings. In tasks, users can send automated reminders to invitees, update attendee lists, and reschedule meetings without any back and forth. To simplify meeting preparation, users are also sent meeting briefings with a rundown of their upcoming meetings in their preferred inbox or chat apps.

By centralizing meeting-related work in one platform, you can spare your employees the hassle of time-consuming meeting coordination, so they can get back to work and move along with their days faster.

Guide your team into the future of work

It’s time to challenge traditional ways of working by giving employees the tools and processes they need to thrive in a rapidly changing professional climate.

Scheduling software not only saves employees time but helps them work smarter by offloading admin tasks, simplifying distributed collaboration, and freeing up space for high-value work. An investment in the well-being and productivity of your employees is an investment in sustainable business growth.

Scheduling software is an essential tool for organizational leaders that want to ensure more flexibility, efficiency, and a better work-life balance for their employees.