Meeting Cost Benchmarks: What Companies Spend in 2026

The State of Meeting Spend

Every knowledge-work organization pays a meeting tax — an invisible cost that shows up on zero financial reports. In 2026, we have more data than ever on exactly how large that tax is.

Tolly analyzed calendar and cost data across thousands of teams to establish baseline benchmarks for meeting spend. The findings are striking: the average company spends between 15% and 35% of its total labor cost on meetings, yet fewer than 3% have any system to track or manage that spend.

Benchmarks by Company Size

Meeting spend is not proportional to headcount. Larger organizations don't just have more meetings — they have exponentially more meetings. Our data shows a clear inflection point at around 200 employees, where meeting overhead begins to compound.

Small teams of 10-50 employees typically see 10-15% of labor cost consumed by meetings. Mid-market companies between 200 and 1,000 employees average 22-28%. Enterprise organizations above 1,000 often exceed 30%.

Benchmarks by Industry

Industry norms vary significantly. Financial services and consulting firms tend to be the most meeting-heavy, with averages above 30% of labor cost. Technology companies cluster around 22-25%. Healthcare and manufacturing sit lower, around 15-18%, but their meeting costs are often concentrated among management, creating a disproportionate impact on operational leadership.

The Meeting Inflation Effect

Perhaps the most concerning trend is meeting inflation — the year-over-year increase in meeting volume and cost. Since 2020, the average knowledge worker's meeting load has increased by 85%. Calendar data shows the average person now spends 23 hours per week in meetings, up from 14 hours pre-pandemic.

Using Benchmarks to Drive Change

Benchmarks are most valuable as conversation starters. When a CFO sees that their organization is spending 28% of labor cost on meetings while the industry average is 22%, it becomes a natural question: where is that 6% going?

The most effective approach is to start with visibility, benchmark against peers, identify outliers, and then use governance policies to gradually bring meeting spend in line with organizational goals.

What Top-Performing Companies Do Differently

Organizations in the bottom quartile of meeting spend (relative to their industry) share common traits. They tend to have explicit meeting policies, default to shorter meeting durations, enforce maximum attendee counts, and regularly audit recurring meetings.

The gap between the most and least meeting-efficient companies in any given industry is roughly 2x — meaning the worst performers spend twice as much on meetings as the best. That gap represents a massive opportunity for any organization willing to invest in meeting intelligence.