25 Incredible Meeting Statistics: Virtual, Zoom & Productivity

Quixy Editorial Team

February 2, 2024

Are you someone who attends too many meetings in a week and finds it difficult to focus on your work? Or someone who often falls asleep during a meeting? Well, in that case, you are not alone. The trend of virtual and in-person meetings has been on the rise over the past two decades.

This article addresses the top meeting statistics, including virtual meeting statistics, Zoom meeting statistics, and meeting productivity statistics that will change the way you prepare your collaboration strategy. Keep reading to learn about these statistics in detail, and at the end, you will witness a few statistics that highlight the importance of productive meetings.

Fundamental Meeting Statistics

After discussing some fascinating facts, let’s review the fundamentals. The fact is that meetings take up inordinate amounts of time for many employees, and the bulk of them reduce employee productivity. Here are some conclusions drawn from our research:

1. The typical corporate employee attends and prepares for meetings for four hours each week.

58% of workers say their meetings last longer than 30 minutes. Additionally, 35% of workers concur that the two to five hours lost in meetings each week don’t provide any benefits and also reduce employee productivity.

2. According to executives, 45% of meetings are pointless.

Nobody enjoys wasting time. Agenda-driven meetings with a clear understanding of everyone’s roles are essential for greater employee productivity.

3. At least eight meetings are attended by the typical employee each week.

That amounts to more than one meeting daily, and the number only rises with seniority. In actuality, the typical executive manager attends 12 meetings or more weekly.

4. Unproductive meetings squander 24 billion hours annually.

37% of workers believe that unproductive meetings are the biggest expense for their company. It makes sense considering the staggering number of lost productive hours—24 billion.

Meeting Statistics from the Employee’s point of view

All of this data strongly suggests that meetings are undesirable, but what do workers think? The majority of employees, however, have negative thoughts about meetings. Here are some conclusions drawn from our research:

5. 35% of Employees say fewer people in a meeting is the secret to productive meetings.

35% of the employees from different professions agree that the lesser people in a meeting the more employee productivity. In addition, they said the number of people doesn’t matter in a meeting, the communication does.

6. 65% of employees say that meetings are an escape from their own work.

Given that meetings can take up to 50% of the time for individuals at the top of the corporate ladder, it is not surprising that two out of three employees share this opinion.

7. Under 40% of meeting attendees admit to falling asleep in the middle of one.

Do you have a bad day? Need a nap? Your best option could be to attend a conference. We’ve already established that most meetings are a waste of time, but this information may surprise you: 39% of meeting attendees admitted to dozing off in the middle of a meeting.

8. In at least 41% of meetings, employees multitask.

Employees in remote meetings typically multitask while responding to and writing emails. This sort of multitasking is used by at least 55% of employees and is more common during lengthier sessions. — 39% of meeting participants admitted to dozing off in the middle of one.

Also Read: 50+ Hybrid Workplace Statistics that you should know

Meeting Statistics by Job Level

It’s crucial to remember that not all job titles are created equal when it comes to meetings. The higher up the ladder, the more time is typically spent in meetings. Here are some details:

9. The average CEO spends 72% of their time in meetings, which amounts to at least 37 every week.

In general, higher-level corporate positions tend to need an increasing number of meetings. Meetings take up about 35% of the time for middle management staff and 50% of the time for higher management.

10. Compared to other professions, office positions have the most meetings, with CEOs and vice presidents holding up to 17 meetings a week.

Vice Presidents, CEOs, and other top executives may attend 12–17 meetings each week as opposed to the typical eight meetings. That amounts to 53% more weekly meetings.

11. 35% of employees devote two to five hours per day to meetings and calls.

And the majority of workers 54% spend more than 30 minutes in each meeting they attend daily. To subtract this much time from an eight-hour workday is significant.

Also Read: Top 44 Remote Working Tools you need to work from anywhere

Virtual Meeting Statistics

Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic, many employees now conduct remote zoom meetings from their homes. This presents a whole new set of challenges, including technical difficulties and an excessive amount of zoom meetings. Here is what we discovered:

12. Focus is substantially improved during video conferencing.

Participants in meetings are much less prone to multitask while in zoom meetings. In contrast, 57% of employees admitted to multitasking while on the phone and only 4% of employees multitask during a video conference.

13. 15% of remote workers do house chores while participating in zoom meetings.

During zoom meetings, people engage in a variety of other distracting activities, including caring for pets, going for a run, and more.

14. 50% of employees have participated in at least one to three hours of zoom meetings each week since COVID-19 began.

Under 50% of remote workers complain about the increased number of meetings and many of them are frustrated by the amount of time lost due to late starts or technological difficulties.

15. Three-fourths of the medium businesses will operate under a hybrid model.

75% of midsize businesses will operate under a hybrid model, with workers splitting their time between a set corporate office and remote sites.

16. In the coming 3 years, virtual meetings will go up to 50% of the overall virtual events. 

By 2025, the video meeting platform that their company regularly uses will host 50% of all virtual workplace events.

17. Virtual meetings grew from 48% to 77%.

Video conferencing technology is used by 48% of remote workers, and now, the percentage increased to  77%.

18. Unproductive meetings consume an average of 31 hours each month.

With 56% of remote workers actively wishing to cut back on the average 31 hours per month they spend in virtual meetings, unproductive meetings consume an average of 31 hours each month.

19. Zoom hosts 300 million meetings every day.

With the growing trend of virtual meetings since the outbreak of COVID-19, people use Zoom as their first preference for hosting virtual meetings. Zoom hosts 300 million meetings every day.

Also Read: 75+ Digital Transformation Statistics and Trends To Help You Navigate

Future Scope of Meeting Statistics

Even if there has been a clear trend toward digitization, consumers still prefer face-to-face interactions. In light of this, it is uncertain how future meetings will change. Nevertheless, we found that:

20. Between 2020 and 2026, there will be a significant CAGR of 11.45% for the worldwide video conferencing industry.

The global video conferencing market’s worth climbed from $3.85 billion to $6.03 billion. That is a 36% rise in value.

21. From 2021 to 2028, the worldwide virtual events market will rise at a rate of 23.7%

The size of the worldwide virtual events market was estimated at 94.04 billion USD. From 2021 to 2028, this will rise at a rate of 23.7% more. The increase is accelerated by the growing use of live-streaming APIs in technology.

22. By the end of 2028, the market is anticipated to generate revenues of over USD 27.19 billion at a CAGR of 14.2%.

According to a recent analysis by BlueWeave Consulting, a strategic consulting and market research business, the global virtual meeting software industry will be valued at USD 10.92 billion. By the end of 2028, the market is anticipated to generate revenues of over USD 27.19 billion at a CAGR of 14.2%.

Importance of Productive Meetings through Statistics

The following statistics highlight the importance of productive meetings:

23. Meeting Productivity determines job satisfaction.

Productive meetings increase employee productivity, according to 55% of respondents surveyed. In general, employees are more likely to report higher levels of job satisfaction if they are inspired and engaged throughout the productive meetings.

24. Meeting Productivity has an impact on organizational revenue.

In a 2012 study, researchers discovered a direct link between less corporate revenue and unproductive meetings that exhibit dysfunctional meeting conduct.

25. Productive meetings are linked to team performance.

A study showed that improved employee productivity and organizational success are triggered for up to 2.5 years following meetings when team members engage in constructive problem-solving and action planning.

Summing Up: Careful planning can lead to productive meetings.

Meetings have transformed from being the biggest time and resource wasters to becoming gradually more focused and effective forums for cooperation. The virtual meeting setting changed the meeting’s overall format and provided employees and companies with a new point of view.

In order to make meetings more productive for everyone involved, organizations and teams still need to concentrate on making their meetings shorter, more inclusive, less frequent, and more interesting.