I might draw some ire here but I believe that contractors are generally people to whom work has been outsourced and they are certainly a hell lot cheaper! It is the consultant types that really burn a hole in the company's balance sheet!
Speaking of meetings, any meeting over 30 mins, besides being a waste of time, is also a test of everyone's patience (except the guy doing all the talking)!
In a truly inept organization (US DoD) the uninvited are excluded from affecting anything. Check out GAO on why acquisition programs have been getting worse on their risk list since 1990