The rise of unproductive meetings and the hangovers they leave behind

Over the past few years, our Asana Work Innovation Lab team has studied meetings from every angle—and tested interventions that range from subtle nudges to a full-on Meeting Doomsday. But we continue to see that organizations are suffocating under the crushing weight of unproductive meetings. In 2024, our research found that unproductive meetings surged across the org chart, clogging calendars and grinding real work to a halt.

Too many organizations are still operating with outdated ways of working—many of which haven’t evolved in decades—and meetings are Exhibit A. Instead of redesigning how work flows across distributed, hybrid, or cross-functional teams, many leaders reach for the same tired solution: just schedule another meeting. According to our 2024 State of Work Innovation report, 21% of employees say teams don’t collaborate effectively across the organization. 

One major reason? Meetings have become the default coordination tool—even when they’re the least effective option. The result: workdays packed with meetings that rarely align teams or move work forward.

Individual Contributors: The Steepest Climb

The biggest spike in wasted meeting time? It’s not at the top—it’s among individual contributors. In 2024, their unproductive meeting load has jumped to 3.7 hours, an eye-popping 118% over the 1.7 hours reported in 2019. This eats away at deep work. And it’s a major contributor to the 53% of time workers now say they spend on busywork.

One reason behind the surge? In hybrid and distributed environments—where visibility is lower and informal check-ins are less frequent—meetings have become a stand-in for trust and clarity. Many organizations still lack strong asynchronous systems—tools and norms that let work move forward without real-time interaction. The result? Individual contributors who once had space to focus are now overbooked, over-briefed, and underproductive.

Managers: Stuck in the Middle

Managers now spend more time than any other group in unnecessary meetings—5.8 hours per week, an 87% increase since 2019. Why the steep rise? Because managers are stuck in the middle—trying to make sense of top-down strategy while also keeping frontline work on track. In hybrid and distributed environments, where informal touchpoints are scarcer and async norms are weak, many default to more meetings to stay in the loop and coordinate work. The result? Overscheduling becomes a reflex and meetings bloat in frequency. 

Executives: Not Immune—But Less Exposed

Executives aren’t immune either. Their wasted meeting time has jumped from 3.5 hours a week in 2019 to 5.3 hours in 2024—a 51% increase. It’s not as steep as the spike for managers or individual contributors, partly because execs have more control: they can delegate their meeting attendance to other people or decline. But even at the top, low-value meetings are sneaking in—clogging calendars and eating into time that should be spent actually leading, not languishing in yet another status update.

The Hidden Cost: Meeting Hangovers

The wasted time is bad enough. But our research has found that unproductive meetings often come with a second hit: the meeting hangover—that lingering brain fog and frustration that follows a bad or draining meeting. 

In 2024, workers reported having meeting hangovers after 28% of their meetings. For executives, it was nearly the same—27%. And it doesn’t end when the meeting does—84% say they spend part of their “cooling off” time venting to colleagues, which means one bad meeting doesn’t just drain the people in the room—it radiates outward, dragging down morale. It’s not just unproductive. It’s often contagious.

Automating Dysfunction Is Still Dysfunction

AI has real potential to clean up coordination and cut down on needless meetings. But let’s be clear: if you layer AI on top of a broken system, all you get is faster dysfunction. Automating bad habits doesn’t make them better—often it just makes them harder to notice.

Organizations need to rebuild their coordination systems, including and beyond meetings. Before AI can help, organizations need to rebuild how work actually flows—inside and beyond meetings. Because if the foundation’s broken, even the smartest tools won’t save you from a calendar full of unproductive meetings.