The 2023 Study
What really causes meeting fatigue. Scroll down to download the full study.
In 2023 we surveyed 1,489 employees across 12+ industries to understand what was really driving meeting exhaustion in hybrid and remote work. The findings challenged the “Zoom fatigue” narrative — the problem was meetings themselves.
In 2021 we surveyed more than 1,700 employees, managers, and executives at the height of the pandemic to understand what was driving exhaustion in virtual meetings. Were people struggling with cameras — or something else entirely?
The 2023 Study
Surveyed 1,489
Full-Time Employees
Across 12+
Industries
54% Managers
46% Non-managers
55% Hybrid
27% Remote
16% Office
2% Other
15+
Countries
64% surveyed rank meeting-related issues as the #1 cause of “fatigue.”
The rest reported some type of fatigue related to being on camera during those meetings.
“Since COVID, I have noticed an increase in update meetings I am involved with, primarily due to some people working from home and some in the office. These update meetings however have not really improved productivity, and sometimes feel more like a burden than anything / a distraction from actually doing work.”
Male | 20s | Professional | Manager | Office | Ambivert
The Meeting Boom Continues
Our study in 2021 revealed that 63% of people reported an increase in meeting frequency — not surprising during a global lockdown. Fast forward to 2023, and three out of four workers said that the number of meetings they attend had either stayed the same (46%) or increased (30%), meaning that things have not relaxed back to pre-pandemic levels.
Has the number of meetings you attend
changed from before the pandemic?
In 2023, did the number of weekly online
meetings you attend change vs. a year ago?
Who does this explosion in meetings affect more?
Office, hybrid or remote?
“I find 20% of my meetings are [not needed] … just a call where someone reads out to us an email update they sent 2 hours ago, a complete waste of time.”
Why so many meetings?
How many people report being anxious by being on camera?
But why do most of them want to be off camera?
…So they can multi-task during pointless meetings.
“[Weekly] is the longest you should leave someone to their own devices and also weekly is a good opportunity to check in on their well-being too.”
Female | 30s | Middle Management | Hybrid | Trained in 1:1S – Prefer Weekly | Somewhat Introverted
What about 1:1 meetings, which traditionally have a weekly cadence?
While weekly remains the most popular, especially among managers, there is a trend to reduce 1:1 meeting frequency.
Three of the study recommendations:
Throughout this report, you’ll find ideas and suggestions.
Here’s three of our recommendations.
Regularly audit meeting frequency (and how many are back-to-back).
Train everyone how to collaborate more and meet less.
Train employees how to plan and run a meeting that gets results.
©Virtira, 2023 Feel free to use any statistics from this study. Please link back to this page if you do.
