A recent study found that Microsoft workers who spoke most positively about thriving at work and work-life balance worked about five fewer hours, had to attend less team meetings and had 17 fewer employees in their internal network size.

This means that the industry belief that large teams whipped on by middle managers is not working and that “collaboration” may have become a buzzword for a collective that is more a bureaucracy than a truly productive organism?

The report says that collaboration isn't bad in itself but: "It is important to be mindful of how intense collaboration can impact work-life balance, and leaders and employees alike should guard against that intensity becoming 24/7."

It seems though that Microsoft is not going to rush to dispatch its middle managers. It still thinks that "Thriving takes a village" and rather than not attending pointless management meetings Voles would rather feel included.

It points out that a lack of collaboration led to feeling left out of decisions to struggling with politics and bureaucracy.

The report states: "It's heartening to learn, though, that perhaps the most important element to making an employee happy at work is giving them time to, well, actually work."

Yeah, and that is not possible while they are attending boring meetings and listening to reports which are interpreted to in such a way that props up the status quo.