Energy Emerges as Key Metric for Effective Meetings According to New Workplace Survey

A new survey of U.S. knowledge workers from Funmentum Labs has identified energy as the primary indicator of meeting effectiveness, surpassing traditional metrics like productivity and purpose. The research reveals a workplace energy crisis where only one in three employees rate their meetings as excellent, and less than half feel energized by work meetings. Thirty-seven percent report feeling joyless and drained, attributing this to excessive meetings that lack direction.

The data shows a significant disparity between leadership and individual contributors' meeting experiences. While 43% of directors and above describe their meetings as excellent, only 24% of individual contributors share this sentiment. The survey indicates that teams are overwhelmed with tools yet deficient in energy, often depending on a few naturally energetic colleagues to sustain engagement, particularly in finance, insurance, and real estate sectors.

According to the findings, 53% of employees identify shared laughter as the most effective energy booster at work, while 52% believe spontaneous creativity or humor is the fastest method to re-energize teams. Just 39% find their meetings memorable, with government, healthcare, and manufacturing workers reporting the poorest meeting experiences. Mark Halvorson, co-founder and CEO of Funmentum Labs, stated that energy has become the new key performance indicator for meetings.

In response to these findings, Funmentum Labs launched Funware, an AI-powered facilitation platform designed to restore energy and momentum to workplace meetings. The platform functions as an integrated meeting facilitator and activity designer for Zoom, transforming any meeting into structured, engaging sessions with clear outcomes without requiring preparation. Key features include AI concierge matching meeting goals with appropriate team activities, one-click meeting activities to maintain engagement, AI personalization for team-specific goals, automatic recaps delivering immediate highlights and next steps, AI guests to stimulate ideas and break tension, and emoji head nods to enhance virtual collaboration.

Jeremy Utley, Stanford d.school Professor and AI Expert, noted that Funware has helped corporate clients reframe team meetings as anticipated events rather than calendar burdens. The platform includes over 25 proven team activities and offers custom activity design for unique team challenges, requiring users to simply schedule meetings while Funware manages the execution. Kenny White, co-founder of Funmentum Labs, emphasized that while most tools focus on productivity, Funware enables better team chemistry by breaking repetitive cycles and restoring the energy that drives tangible outcomes.

The survey results arrive at a critical time when return-to-office mandates have failed to improve workplace culture, project management tools have not rebuilt trust, and AI has automated tasks without enhancing the human work experience. Employees described their workday soundtrack as resembling Groundhog Day—the same scene and song repeating daily. The Workplace Energy Audit, commissioned by Funmentum Labs and conducted by Researchscape from July 18 to 24, 2025, surveyed 655 U.S. knowledge workers from companies with 20 or more employees, measuring energy, engagement, and connection in contemporary work environments.