Research highlights a growing breakdown in meeting effectiveness as organizations struggle with basic technology for hybrid collaboration
LOWELL, Mass., June 09, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Jabra, a global leader in professional audio and video solutions, today released its Cost of Bad Meetings Report. This examines the hidden costs of modern workplace meetings, revealing that unnecessary meetings, technology failures, and unclear outcomes are costing companies millions in lost productivity every year, with large enterprises potentially losing as much as $130 million annually.
“We’ve treated bad meetings as an irritation, not a financial risk,” commented Holger Reisinger, Senior Vice President Jabra Enterprise Video Business Unit. “If your people are dreading meetings, you’re already paying the price. It’s a clear signal that organizations need to re-envision their meeting culture, supported by technology that lets everyone be clearly seen and heard.”
The Cost Doesn’t End with the Meeting
The findings show that the true cost of meetings is often realized after they end, with inefficiencies driving repeated conversations and additional work that extends beyond the original meeting time.
- More than half of meeting time (58%) is seen as unnecessary throughout the working week, equivalent to a full working month of lost productivity per employee each year.
- Nearly six in 10 meetings require follow-up discussions or additional work to clarify decisions and next steps.
The impact extends well beyond the meeting itself, compounding through lost time, duplicated effort, and repeated coordination across teams. Jabra describes this as “meeting debt,” where unresolved outcomes and ineffective collaboration drive ongoing work and repeated alignment long after the meeting ends.
Technology Challenges Continue to Undermine Hybrid Collaboration
Technology remains a major barrier to hybrid collaboration, impacting both meeting quality and participation.
Meeting Fatigue is Reaching a Breaking Point
Meeting fatigue remains a persistent challenge across organizations, with rising meeting volumes contributing to declining engagement and focus.
- A shockingly high 87% of employees report a level of “meeting dread.”
- What’s more, nearly half (42%) of workers reach their energy limit within two hours of back-to-back meetings – suggesting longer stretches become unproductive.
- Even more critical, 83% reach that limit within four hours.
As cognitive limits are reached, the quality of participation declines, increasing the likelihood that meetings fail to deliver clear outcomes.
AI Can Improve Meetings, But It Can’t Fix Broken Ones
While organizations look to AI-powered meeting tools to improve efficiency, technology alone is not enough. Although 75% of workers have tried AI tools such as meeting transcription and summaries, fewer than one in three use them regularly. Poor audio quality, unclear conversations, and inconsistent meeting experiences limit the effectiveness of AI-generated outputs.
“AI can enhance a well-run meeting, but it can’t fix a broken one. If organizations want to unlock the value of AI in meetings, they need to start with the fundamentals, ensuring people can be clearly seen, heard and understood,” added Reisinger.
The full study is available for download: jabra.com/thought-leadership/billion-dollar-brain-drain
Methodology
The study is based on a survey conducted by Toluna on behalf of Jabra among more than 2,300 knowledge workers across seven markets: the UK, US, Germany, France, Sweden, Denmark, and India. It explores meeting behaviors, technology performance and its impact on productivity, collaboration and employee experience. Cost estimates are based on self-reported meeting time, disruption rates and follow-up work, benchmarked against national salary data.
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About Jabra
Jabra is a world leading brand in audio, video, and collaboration solutions – engineered to empower businesses. Proudly part of the GN Group, we are committed to bringing people closer to one another and to what is important to them. GN’s R&D team utilizes innovative hardware, software, and AI-enabled technologies and expertise across hearing, enterprise, and gaming product groups. This engineering excellence allows Jabra to create integrated and customer-centric tools for contact centers, offices, and collaboration to help professionals work more productively from anywhere. www.jabra.com
Founded in 1869, GN Group employs more than 7,500 people and is listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (GN.CO). GN’s solutions are sold in 100 countries across the world. Visit our homepage GN.com.
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