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Timing your meetings for 50 minutes so that participants can take a quick break before the next one.
The “UCL Hour” – for all meetings.
Working in a hybrid way or working remotely can be intense if you are in front of a computer all day. It is important to be able to stretch, to give your eyes a rest, and walk around regularly.
Therefore, UCL has introduced the “UCL Hour” which means that staff meetings should last 50 minutes instead of an hour, so staff can take a break in between meetings.
This also applies to in-person meetings so that staff have time to move rooms or buildings. Meetings should start on the hour and finish at ten minutes to the hour; or start on the half hour and finish at twenty minutes past the hour.
Similar consideration should be given to other durations of meetings: So 25 minutes instead of 30 minutes; 1 hour 20 minutes instead of 1 hour 30 minutes; 1 hour 50 minutes instead of 2 hours.
To make this easier, you can set Outlook to do this automatically. Select File > Options > Calendar > Calendar options
- Check the Shorten appointments and meetings checkbox and select End early.
- Use the drop-downs to select 10 minutes.
From the 2022/23 academic year the UCL hour will be extended to all teaching and student sessions so that all sessions (face to face and online) will start on the hour and will end at ten minutes to the hour. This change to a simpler ‘on the hour’ start should help to ensure that sessions begin on time.
It is imperative that all staff involved in teaching students, Education Leadership within departments and faculties, and professional services staff involved in timetabling all familiarise themselves with (and adhere to) the revised Timetabling Policy, found in Chapter 14 of the Academic Manual.