They know what they’re doing, and it’s only going to make their employee’s resent them.

You would think that everyone hates pointless meetings. If you’re going to interrupt an employee’s workflow, do so only for something that benefits them, you, and the whole company. Meetings should be for discussions that can’t be had over email or Slack. They should be used to exchange new ideas with your team. If you haven’t gained something by the end of the meeting that you didn’t have at the beginning, then it might not have been worth having in the first place. 

There’s nothing wrong with having a meeting that includes reflection on what you’ve already done that you think is worth acknowledging. If you’re constantly moving forward without taking time to tell people they did a good job, they won’t be as motivated to keep working hard. If an employee says, «I’m proud that I accomplished X,» and their boss tells them, «Why didn’t you accomplish Y too?» they can’t be surprised when their employee isn’t as excited about accomplishing Y, or Z, for that matter. 

At the same time, no employee wants a meeting that’s just about reflecting and celebrating wins. You should be able to meet to discuss wins and next steps. An employee whose schedule is filled with pointless meetings is less inclined to participate in and take seriously the more important meetings that require full participation.