Huel | Is a 'laptops closed' rule the right way to improve meetings?

If you've spent any time in a corporate meeting over the past decade, you will have seen the familiar glow of laptop screens around the table. Half the room appears to be listening; the other half is answering emails, tweaking PowerPoint slides or, increasingly, asking some form of AI to finish a piece of work before lunch.

So Huel's decision to introduce a "laptops closed" rule for meetings feels understandable. Chief Technology Officer Ollie Scheers says the aim is simple: if you're in a meeting, be present, engaged and part of the discussion. It's hard to argue with the principle.

There's also a slight irony that Huel, a company synonymous with helping people optimise every minute of their day through nutritionally complete meals, is now trying to optimise attention spans, too. Perhaps that's entirely on brand.

But it's worth asking whether a mandate is really the best way to achieve it?