52+ Interesting Meeting Statistics, Trends and Facts [2025]

Do you know how many hours you spend in meetings?

On average, about 55 million meetings happen every week in the US.

An employee spends about 3-5 hours per week attending meetings.

Some employees think that most meetings could be more productive, exciting, and a better use of time.

Are meetings really unproductive?

Check out these meeting statistics to get some interesting insights.

Top Meeting Statistics: Editor’s Pick

1. In the last ten years, the time spent in meetings has increased by 8-10% annually. [1]
2. 83% of workers state that meetings take up to a third of their week [2]
3. Monday is the least popular day for meetings. [3]
4. 45% of employees are overwhelmed by the number of meetings they attend. [4]
5. The pandemic caused a 13.5% increase in the number of meetings attended by an employee. [5]
6. 71% of senior managers said that meetings are ineffective and unproductive. [5]
7. Ineffective meetings cost organizations about $238 billion per year. [6]
8. 11 million meetings happen every day in the US. [7]

General Meeting Statistics

Here are some interesting meeting statistics:

How much time does an employee spend on meetings?

On average, employees spend about eight hours a week in meetings. [8]

66% of respondents spend less than one cumulative day per week in meetings. [8]

Employees spend almost 65% of their time in audio and video meetings. [8]

The average duration of a meeting is 31 to 60 minutes. [9]

US employees attend an average of nearly 18 meetings a week. [9]

Are most meetings unproductive?

Executives say that 40% of meetings are pointless. [5]

67% of employees believe that spending too much time in meetings distracts them from doing their work. [10]

34% of workers say they waste 2-5 hours per week on unproductive meetings. [10]

32% of people think that a meeting could’ve been an email most of the time. [10]

Do unproductive meetings cost a company?

About $25 million is wasted per day on unnecessary meetings. [11]

Each year, about $37 billion is wasted on meetings that aren’t productive. [11]

15% of a company’s time is spent on meetings, and the number has only been increasing. [12]

Organizations with 100 employees can save almost $2.5 million annually if meetings are reduced. [12]

Firms with 5,000 employees can save about $100 million annually if they decrease the number of meetings. [12]

Employees’ Opinions about Meetings

Employees have mixed feelings about meetings. 

On one hand, meetings can be a valuable tool for collaboration, communication, and decision-making. 

On the other hand, meetings can also be a waste of time, especially when they are poorly organized.

Are employees attentive during meetings?

An average adult’s attention span lasts 10-15 minutes. [13] 

However, meetings often last for at least 30 minutes. [9]

Are employees paying attention during meetings?

A study conducted by LiveCareer revealed the attention span of respondents during meetings:

1. 9% of respondents say their attention span is less than 10 minutes.
2. 43% lose concentration after 20–30 minutes.
3. 30% can pay attention for 30–40 minutes.
4. 14% lose focus in 40–50 minutes.
5. 4% can pay attention for an hour.

What do employees do during meetings?

95% of attendees miss parts of meetings. [15]

73% accepted multi-tasking during meetings. [15]

39% say they have dozed off at meetings. [15]

91% of employees daydream during meetings. [1]

15% of remote employees take care of household chores while attending virtual meetings.

How do employees feel about meetings?

Meetings can interrupt a person’s concentration. When they are constantly switching between different tasks, it can be difficult to get work done.

That’s why 64% of employees think that meetings cost them deep thinking. [5]

62% of workers feel that meetings miss opportunities to bring the team closer. [5]

44% said they don’t have enough time to complete their work because of poorly organized meetings. [16]

48% of office goers report that they waste a considerable amount of time looking for a free meeting room. [16]

How can meetings be more productive? 

70% of employees believe gathering input from attendees can improve meetings. [18]

53% believe their meetings could be better if they were shorter. [18]

31% of employees said that unnecessary attendees slowed the progress of the meeting. [16]

In a meeting with 20 people, only 5% are going to be interactive; the rest are just spectators. Reducing the number of participants can save time. 

The Rise of Virtual Meetings

After 2019, many businesses shifted to a hybrid or remote work model, which has led to an increase in the number of virtual meetings.

Here are some interesting statistics about virtual meetings:

How did the pandemic influence meetings?

Before the pandemic, most meetings were held in person. However, due to social distancing restrictions, many organizations were forced to shift to virtual meetings.

Thanks to the convenience of virtual meetings, various firms decided to stick to virtual meetings even after 2020.

Check out how COVID impacted meetings:

Video conferencing services like Zoom, Google Meet, and Microsoft Teams saw a 10X increase in demand during the COVID-19. [19]

About half of the employees have participated in at least one to three hours of Zoom meetings each week since COVID-19. [20]

Annual Zoom meeting minutes increased by 3300% in October 2020. [21]

Are virtual meetings here to stay?

Gartner predicts that in-person meetings will drop from 60% to 25%. [8]

50% of all enterprise events will happen via video conferencing platforms by 2025. [8]

64% of workers prefer to have flexibility about where to work and want more time in virtual meetings. [8]

Employees spend about 65% of their meeting time in audio and/or video meetings, versus 35% in person. [8]

Virtual meeting solutions saw a 62.7% YoY increase in usage in 2020.

Based on these numbers, it is safe to say virtual meetings are here to stay.

What are the benefits of virtual meetings? 

The carbon footprint of in-person conferences can be reduced by 94% if they are held entirely online. [23]

95% of remote employees would recommend virtual meetings to others. [24]

87% of workers feel that video conferencing reduces misunderstandings during remote meetings. [24]

47% of employees say that virtual meetings are more productive than in-person meetings. [24]

80% of people feel more connected with their coworkers through videoconferencing than through audio-only calls. [24]

Meetings by Job Levels

The number and types of meetings people attend vary depending on their job level

1. CEOs spend about 72% of their total work time in meetings. [25]
2. On average, CEOs attend 37 meetings per week. [25]
3. Vice presidents and executives attend 12–7 meetings per week; that’s 53% of their work week. [26]
4. Senior-level employees spend 50% of their work time in meetings. [26]
5. Middle-level management spends 35% of their time in meetings. [26]
6. 54% of employees spend at least 30 minutes a day in meetings. [26]
7. 35% of workers spend two to five hours per day on meetings and calls. [26]

Future of Meetings

The future of meetings will be shaped by technology, hybrid and remote work models, and employee perceptions. 

Learn how meetings are going to evolve in the future. 

Global videoconferencing marketing is expected to reach over USD 9.2 Billion by 2026 [27]

Cloud-based videoconferencing solutions are more affordable and easier to deploy than on-premises solutions. This makes them a more attractive option for businesses of all sizes.

The video conferencing market has increased by 36% in the last two years. 

The global virtual events market will rise at a rate of 23.7% [28]

The size of the virtual meeting market was estimated at 94.04 billion USD in 2020. 

The increase in the use of live-streaming APIs is one of the main reasons for the projected growth rate of this industry.

The average length of meetings has been reduced by 20.1% [29]

In 2021, the time employees spent in meetings decreased by 11.5%.

Many organizations are realizing the damage unproductive meetings are doing to their operations.

MIT Sloan surveyed 76 companies that had introduced a one to five no-meeting days per week policy.

The survey found that the majority of these companies (63%) reported improved productivity. [30]

41% experienced improved work-life balance. [30]

FAQs about Meetings

How many meetings are productive?

Unfortunately, only 11% of meetings are productive. Organizations spend about 15% of their time on meetings. However, about 70% of those meetings are considered a waste of time by most employees. 

What are the benefits of productive meetings?

1. 55% of employees state that productive meetings increase job satisfaction.
2. Productive meetings and problem-solving discussions contributed to the company’s success for about 2.5 years after the meetings.
3. There is a direct link between less corporate revenue and unproductive meetings.

What is the average number of meetings in a week?

An average employee has about 8 meetings per week. This number increases as the job level increases. 

How do you make meetings productive?

1. Have a clear agenda and goals for the meeting, and share them with participants in advance.
2. Start and end the meeting on time.
3. Keep the meeting focused on the agenda and avoid side conversations.
4. Encourage everyone to participate and share their ideas.
5. Summarize the key takeaways and next steps at the end of the meeting.
6. Use meeting tools and technology, such as timers, whiteboards, and online collaboration tools.
7. Take breaks, especially if the meeting is longer than an hour.
8. Follow up after the meeting with a summary of the key takeaways and next steps.

What is the ideal length of a meeting?

The perfect length of a meeting is about 15 minutes, since the average attention span of an employee is about 20 minutes. 

Sources

1. Drexel University. THE IMPACT OF TOO MANY MEETINGS
2. Dialpad. The state of video conferencing 2022
3. Global Ranking and Finance Review. What’s the best day to schedule your meeting on?
4. Forbes. Top Ten Ways To Stop Meeting Madness
5. Harvard Business Review. Stop the Meeting Madness
6. Inc. Ineffective meetings cost organizations about $238 billion per year
7. Verizon Conferencing. A study of trends, costs, and attitudes toward business travel and teleconferencing, and their impact on productivity
8. Gartner. Effective Meetings for a Hybrid Workforce
9. CBS News. Unnecessary meetings can cost big companies $100 million a year, report finds
10. Korn Ferry. Working or wasting time?
11. Fortune. Stuck in Another Pointless Meeting? It could be costing your boss tens of thousands of dollars
12. Medium. How Much Time Are You Wasting on Useless Meetings?
13. Interactico. How to increase audience attention span
14. Live Career. Meeting in the Workplace | 2023 Statistics
15. The HR Digest. THE EXCESSIVE COST OF INEFFECTIVE MEETINGS
16.  Voltage Control. 5 Reasons Meetings Go Poorly
17. Pointr. How much time do office workers waste looking for meeting rooms, desks, and colleagues?
18. Survey Monkey. Momentive introduces SurveyMonkey app for Zoom to bring live feedback to meetings
19. Sage Journals. Virtual Work Meetings During the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Good, Bad, and Ugly
20. Quixy. 25 Incredible Meeting Statistics: Virtual, Zoom & Productivity
21.  Backlinko. Zoom User Stats: How Many People Use Zoom in 2023?
22. Webex. Virtual meetings in 2023: Everything you need to know.
23. Sustainability Times. Virtual meetings have power to lower carbon emissions
24. Zipdo. Essential Virtual Meeting Statistics In 2023
25. Harvard Business Review. How CEOs Manage Time
26. Union of International Associations. International Meetings Statistics Report
27. Facts & Factors. Global Video Conferencing Market Projected to Reach USD 9.2 Billion by 2026 
28. Globe Newswire. Global Virtual Events Market (2021 to 2028) – Size, Share & Trends Analysis Report
29. LinkedIn. Meetings or CalendarKills
30.  MITSolan. The Surprising Impact of Meeting-Free Days

[ratemypost]

Martin Potocki

Martin is the CEO and Co-founder of Jobera.com, a global remote career advice platform. As a Career and Job Search Expert, he is dedicated to helping job seekers worldwide develop skills, find career opportunities, and land jobs efficiently. Martin shares his expertise by guiding individuals toward professional success and fulfillment.

jobera.com