# 2024 State of Work Innovation report findings on the hidden cost of unproductive meetings > 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. Source: https://asana.com/inside-asana/unproductive-meetings ## The rise of unproductive meetings and the hangovers they leave behind Over the past few years, our [Asana Work Innovation Lab](http://workinnovationlab.com) team has studied meetings from every angle—and tested interventions that range from subtle nudges to a full-on [Meeting Doomsday](https://www.inc.com/rebecca-hinds/meetings-are-broken-its-time-for-a-meeting-doomsday.html). 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 Too many organizations are still operating with outdated ways of working—many of which haven’t evolved in decades—and meetings are Exhibit A. Instead of redesigning how work flows across distributed, hybrid, or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](https://asana.com/resources/state-of-work-innovation), 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. - [我們如何提升無障礙測試的等級](/zh-tw/inside-asana/how-we-leveled-up-accessibility-testing) Asana 團隊 #### 內容撰稿人 在我們的協助工具旅程初期，我們通常將協助工具測試分為兩個類別：自動化和手動。 前者用於快速發現可透過演算法偵測的容易解決的問題，後者則用於需要更多時間和專注力才能找到的所有其他問題。 自動化測試非常適合持續整合 (CI) 等快速流程，而手動測試則需要與熟練的測試人員仔細協調，以涵蓋自動化工具無法處理的所有內容。在此過程中，我們發現這兩種方法之間其實存在一個 ... - [認識 Gradient：Asana 的多元文化員工資源小組](/zh-tw/inside-asana/gradient-multicultural-erg) Asana 團隊 #### 內容撰稿人 今年在 Asana，我們認識到需要不斷發展的策略來營造歸屬感。 因此，我們決定在過去一年中建立兩個新的員工資源群組 (ERG)——Blacsana，我們的黑人 Asana 成員 ERG，以及 Asanapac，我們的泛亞洲和太平洋島嶼社群 ERG。 這些新的 ERG 讓人們對 Gradient ERG 在組織內可以發揮的作用產生了好奇心。 因此，Gradi ... - [The Rise of Unproductive Meetings—and the Hangovers They Leave Behind](/zh-tw/inside-asana/unproductive-meetings) Asana 團隊 - [Work Innovation Lab 負責人](/author/rebecca-hinds) 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 Dooms ... - [Asana 團隊](/inside-asana/team-asana)