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Meetings & Communicationphrase · /ɔːl hændz/

all-hands

In simple English

An all-hands meeting is a gathering of all employees or team members, typically called by senior leadership to share important company updates, announcements, or strategic direction. In tech companies, all-hands meetings are common and often held monthly, quarterly, or during critical moments like product launches, major pivots, or company-wide changes. These meetings differ from departmental or team meetings because they involve the whole organization and usually include time for Q&A. The term can also describe the state of readiness when everyone needs to focus on one high-priority task or emergency—for example, if a critical production bug occurs, the team might say 'we need all-hands on this' meaning everyone should stop what they are doing and help resolve it.

Understand what all-hands means in tech companies and when these meetings happen.

At a glanceCEFR B2
Commonness4/5
Versatility4/5
FormalityCasualFormalNeutral
Spoken ↔ WrittenSpokenWrittenBoth
Directness ↔ DiplomaticDirectDiplomaticDirect
RegionUS and UK
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Say it like this

✓We have an all-hands next Tuesday at 10 AM.
✓This is an all-hands situation—everyone needs to jump in.
✓The CTO is presenting at the all-hands this Friday.

Real examples

in an email

"Please block time for the all-hands meeting on Thursday. Attendance is expected."

in a Slack message

"We need all-hands on deck to fix this production outage before the morning."

in a team standup

"The VP announced at the all-hands that we are hiring 20 new engineers this quarter."

Don't say this

Handle with care. Do not use all-hands as a verb without 'on deck' or as a standalone action verb. It is primarily used as an adjective (all-hands meeting) or noun phrase.

✕We should all-hands this feature before launch.
✓We need all-hands on this feature before launch.— Use 'all-hands on' when describing mobilizing everyone for a task. 'All-hands' alone is not a verb.
✕Let us do an all-hands to discuss the problem.
✓Let us call an all-hands meeting to discuss the problem.— While 'all-hands' can stand alone in casual speech, 'all-hands meeting' is more formal and clear.
✕I will all-hands the team about this change.
✓I will call an all-hands to discuss this change with the team.— All-hands is not used as a transitive verb. Use 'call an all-hands' instead.

Other forms

noun phrase

all-hands

"The all-hands is scheduled for 3 PM today."

adjective

all-hands

"We sent out an all-hands email explaining the new policy."

phrase

all-hands on deck

"We need all-hands on deck to meet this deadline."

Often used with

all-hands meetingThe most common collocation; refers to the formal gathering itself
all-hands on deckMeans everyone is needed immediately for an urgent task or crisis
call an all-handsUsed when leadership schedules or initiates an all-hands meeting
all-hands announcementA company-wide communication or statement shared with everyone
quarterly all-handsRegular, scheduled all-hands meetings held every three months

Similar words

town hallSimilar gathering, but town hall often emphasizes Q&A and two-way dialogue more
company meetingMore general term; may not include the entire company unlike all-hands
all-staff meetingNearly identical meaning; more formal and used in larger organizations
all-team meetingUsed for all-hands at the team or department level rather than company-wide

Opposites

one-on-oneclosed-door meetingdepartmental meeting

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Practice

Try it

4 quick exercises

Pick the most natural phrasing

1. A critical security bug is found in production. How do you mobilize the team?

Complete the sentence

2. The CEO called an _______ to announce the new product launch.

Spot the mistake

3. Which sentence uses 'all-hands' incorrectly?

Rewrite naturally

4. Rewrite this using 'all-hands': 'Every person in the company should come to the meeting tomorrow because we have important information to share.'

Questions

Quick poll

Have you said "all-hands" in a standup this week?

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