How to work out the cost of a meeting
- Choose hourly or yearly pay, and your currency.
- Add the people. Group people on similar pay together. A rough figure is fine: the point is the size of the number, not the last cent.
- Enter the length and how often it happens. A 30-minute weekly meeting is 26 hours of each person's year.
- Read the result, or press Start when the meeting begins to watch its cost add up live. It makes a useful screen to share when a meeting is running over.
The formula
Meeting cost = the sum of every attendee's hourly cost × the meeting length in hours.
For a yearly salary, the hourly cost is the salary divided by 2,080, the number of hours in 52 weeks of 40 hours. A person on 70,000 a year costs about 33.65 an hour, so a one-hour meeting with eight people on that salary costs about 269. Held every week, that one meeting costs about 14,000 a year and takes 416 hours of people's time.
Why the cost of meetings matters
Meetings rarely show up in a budget. Nobody approves the spend, and the cost is spread across many calendars, so a recurring meeting can run for years without anyone asking whether it still earns its place. Putting a figure on it makes that question easier to ask, without blaming anyone.
The hidden cost is often larger than the meeting itself. Focused work needs unbroken time, and a 30-minute meeting in the middle of a morning can break up hours of it. The calculator counts only the time in the room, so treat its result as the minimum.
Ways to bring meeting costs down
- Invite fewer people. Ask whether each person needs to be there or just needs the notes afterwards.
- Shorten the default. Try 25 minutes instead of 30, and 50 instead of 60. Most meetings fill the time they are given.
- Send an agenda first. A meeting with no agenda is usually a meeting that could have been a message.
- Review recurring meetings every quarter. Cancel the ones that no longer have a purpose, or make them less frequent.
- Start on time. Five minutes of waiting for a ten-person meeting is almost an hour of people's time.
For a fuller plan, read our guide on how to cut meeting costs and keep the useful meetings. Starting a meeting with a quick team meeting icebreaker also helps people get to the point faster.
Questions people ask
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
Add up the hourly pay of everyone in the room, then multiply by the length of the meeting in hours. Eight people paid 45 an hour in a one-hour meeting cost 360. Repeat that weekly and it is 18,720 a year.
How do you turn a yearly salary into an hourly rate?
The calculator divides the salary by 2,080 hours, which is 52 weeks of 40 hours. If your team works a different number of hours, enter hourly pay instead.
Does this include overheads like benefits and office costs?
Only if you include them. The true cost of an employee is often well above their salary once benefits, taxes and equipment are added. To include that, enter a fully loaded hourly cost rather than pay.
Are the figures I enter stored anywhere?
No. The calculation runs in your browser and nothing is sent to us. A share link carries the figures after the # in the address, which browsers never send to a server.
Is a meeting cost a reason to cancel meetings?
Not on its own. Some meetings are worth far more than they cost. The number is useful for asking whether a meeting needs everyone invited, the full time slot, or to happen as often as it does.