3 meeting benchmarks to test whether your workweek is heavier than average

You open your calendar and the week is already chopped into blocks. A one-on-one before lunch. A project sync after. A client call, a review, a planning meeting, then another meeting to discuss the last meeting.

The question is not only whether it feels like too much. It is whether your meeting load is heavier than average for someone like you. A benchmark from Otter.ai and Steven Rogelberg gives three ways to test that, but the most useful one is not the first average most people reach for. We will get to that at the end.

The all-role average is only the first check

In the Otter.ai and Steven Rogelberg report, 632 employees voluntarily responded to a survey conducted in summer 2022. The sample covered over 20 different industries, with Professional Services at 33%, Information Technology at 12% and Health & Human Services at 9%.

Across that group, employees had 17.7 meetings totaling 18 hours per week. That is a useful first test. If your week is close to that, your calendar may be frustrating without being unusual against the broad benchmark. If you are far above it, the next question is whether you are comparing yourself with the right peer group.

That matters because meetings are not just time on a schedule. For many professionals, they are the moments when judgment happens. You are asked for a status update. You defend a decision. You explain a delay. You answer a question you did not know was coming.

Gender changes the hours benchmark too

The report also gives a gender split. Female employees reported 20 hours of meetings and male employees reported 16 hours per week. That does not explain why any one person is overloaded. It does show why one overall average can hide different working weeks.

So if you are using the broad 18-hour benchmark, use it cautiously. A 19-hour meeting week can look slightly above average overall. It can look below the female-employee average reported in the sample. It can look above the male-employee average. The same calendar can feel different depending on the comparison.

Remote work does not remove the pressure

The sample was not just office workers. The report says it was representative of different work arrangements: 47% fully remote, 12% fully in-office and 40% hybrid. That matters because a meeting-heavy week can happen whether you are in a conference room or on a video grid.

For speaking pressure, the format changes the feeling but not the demand. In person, you may notice everyone turning toward you. On video, you may see faces stacked on a screen while your own camera is on. Either way, a calendar full of meetings is also a calendar full of small performances.

But there is still one benchmark left. It is the one that most directly answers the question: are you overloaded for your job level, or are you comparing yourself with people who do not have the same meeting role?

The job-level benchmark that answers the question

Here is the role-specific test: 14.4 meetings is the weekly average for non-managers in the report. Those meetings totaled 13.7 hours. For managers of at least 4 direct reports, the average was 21.3 meetings totaling 22.2 hours per week.

That is the comparison that changes the answer. If you are a non-manager with a week near the manager benchmark, your calendar is heavy for your role in this sample. If you manage at least 4 direct reports and your week is near 21.3 meetings, it may be close to the reported manager average, even if it feels intense. If you are using the all-role average alone, you may be underestimating or overstating how unusual your week really is.

What this means for you

When you look at your next week, do not compare every calendar to one average. Compare it in this order: broad average, gender-hours benchmark if useful, then job level. The role check is the one that tells you whether you are heavy against people whose work likely requires a similar amount of coordination.

If your week is high for your role, protect the speaking moments first. Mark the meetings where you will be asked to explain, decide or persuade. Prepare the first sentence for each one. If your week is typical but exhausting, look for the meetings where your presence is passive. A normal load can still be a poor use of your attention.