Microsoft Outlook now lets you add breaks before and after meetings

Microsoft Outlook now comes with an option to automatically start or end meetings early. This feature has been introduced so employees can take short breaks between back-to back meetings. Microsoft is giving companies and individuals the option to customise the meeting timings in Outlook.

Microsoft announced the feature highlighting its latest Work Trend Index research that showed “much of this digital workload is due to back-to-back meetings with no breaks in-between.” These breaks, Microsoft says, should give employees some time to “recharge, grab a glass of water, or simply transition more peacefully from one meeting to the next.” Microsoft conducted a research with 14 people who took part in two different sessions of meetings. A detailed report on the findings of the research study can be found here.

This feature is open to both individuals and companies. It can be customised from the settings menu of Outlook. Users can choose if they want a break before or after meetings, and also choose the length of the break. Microsoft gave the example of setting a five-minute break ahead of 30-minute long meetings or a 15-minute break after hour-long meetings. Once the scheduled break is added to Outlook, all meetings will be adjusted according to the break time whether it’s the start or end time.

Companies can also add scheduled breaks for meetings which can be later customised by individuals for particular meetings or for all meetings. If an organisation has made changes, Microsoft will notify users when they schedule meetings.

The new feature could help employees who actually have back-to-back meetings through the day. And since the feature will be automated after it’s enabled makes it more convenient to use.