How to Calculate the True Cost of Your Meetings

Meetings consume time, and time equals money. But calculating the true cost of a meeting involves more than just basic math. Here's how to do it properly.

The Basic Formula

The simplest calculation is:

Cost = (Number of Attendees × Average Hourly Rate × Duration in Hours)

Example:

6 people in a meeting

Average hourly rate: $50

Meeting duration: 1 hour

**Basic cost: $300**

This gives you a baseline, but it's not the complete picture.

Calculating Hourly Rates

You have a few options for determining hourly rates:

Option 1: Role-Based Rates

Assign approximate rates by role:

Junior staff: $30-50/hour

Mid-level: $50-75/hour

Senior: $75-125/hour

Leadership: $125-200+/hour

These are rough estimates based on fully-loaded costs (salary + benefits + overhead).

Option 2: Salary-Based

If you know salaries:

Hourly Rate = Annual Salary ÷ 2,080 hours

(2,080 = 40 hours/week × 52 weeks)

Then multiply by 1.4 to account for benefits and overhead.

Option 3: Simplified Approach

Use a single blended rate for your team. For tech companies, $75-100/hour is often reasonable.

The exact number matters less than consistency. Pick one method and stick with it.

Beyond the Basics: Hidden Costs

1. Preparation Time

Many meetings require prep work:

Reading documents

Gathering data

Creating presentations

Add 20-50% of meeting time for preparation

So a 1-hour meeting might actually consume 1.3 hours per person when you include prep.

2. Context Switching

When someone leaves focused work for a meeting, it takes time to:

Switch mental context

Resume where they left off

Regain full productivity

Research suggests this "switching cost" can be 15-30 minutes per meeting.

Add 15-30 minutes per person per meeting

3. Follow-Up Time

After meetings, people need to:

Send notes

Complete action items

Answer follow-up questions

Add 10-25% of meeting time for follow-up

4. Opportunity Cost

The hardest cost to calculate but often the most important: What could people have accomplished instead?

If your engineering team is in meetings instead of building features, what's the cost in:

Delayed product launches?

Slower bug fixes?

Missed opportunities?

This is hard to quantify but worth considering.

Complete Cost Calculation

Let's redo our example with hidden costs:

Meeting Details:

6 people

Average rate: $50/hour

Meeting: 1 hour

Prep time: 20 minutes per person

Context switching: 20 minutes per person

Follow-up: 15 minutes per person

Calculation:

Base meeting time: 6 people × $50 × 1 hour = $300

Prep time: 6 people × $50 × 0.33 hours = $100

Context switching: 6 people × $50 × 0.33 hours = $100

Follow-up: 6 people × $50 × 0.25 hours = $75

Total cost: $575

That "1-hour, $300 meeting" actually costs nearly $600 when you account for the full impact.

Recurring Meeting Costs

For recurring meetings, multiply by frequency:

Weekly Meeting Example:

$575 per meeting

52 weeks per year

**Annual cost: $29,900**

Daily Standup Example:

$200 per standup

5 days per week

50 weeks per year (accounting for vacations)

**Annual cost: $50,000**

These numbers add up quickly.

Different Meeting Types

Different meetings have different cost profiles:

Quick Check-ins (15 min)

Lower base cost

Minimal prep

Significant context switching cost

Often interruptive

Status Updates (30-60 min)

Medium cost

Some prep (gathering updates)

Often could be async

Planning/Strategy (2+ hours)

High base cost

Significant prep time

High value if run well

Expensive if run poorly

Decision Meetings (60 min)

Medium-high cost

Lots of prep

High value when decisive

Waste if inconclusive

Using a Calculator Tool

Manual calculation gets tedious. Tools like CostMeet handle this automatically:

1. Set up your team - Add members with approximate roles/rates

2. Track meetings - Start the timer when meetings begin

3. See real-time costs - Watch the total accumulate

4. Review reports - See monthly and annual totals

The key benefit: You don't have to remember to calculate. It happens automatically.

What to Do With This Information

Once you know what meetings cost, use it to:

1. Make Better Decisions

"Is this $500 meeting worth having?"

2. Optimize Attendance

"Do all 10 people need to be here, or would 4 accomplish the same thing?"

3. Challenge Recurring Meetings

"Is our weekly $30K/year meeting still providing value?"

4. Improve Meeting Quality

"If we're spending $800, let's make sure it's well-run"

5. Consider Alternatives

"Could we accomplish this async for a fraction of the cost?"

Common Mistakes in Calculating Costs

Mistake 1: Using Take-Home Pay

Always use fully-loaded cost (salary + benefits + overhead), not take-home pay.

Mistake 2: Ignoring Senior Staff Time

Leadership time is expensive. A meeting with 3 VPs can easily cost $1,000/hour.

Mistake 3: Only Counting Meeting Time

Remember prep, context switching, and follow-up.

Mistake 4: Forgetting Recurring Impact

A "small" weekly meeting might cost $50K+ annually.

Mistake 5: Paralysis by Analysis

Don't spend hours calculating costs perfectly. Rough numbers are fine. The point is awareness, not precision.

A Simple System

If all this seems complicated, here's a simple approach:

1. Use a standard rate - Pick one number ($75/hour for example)

2. Count attendees - How many people?

3. Track time - How long did it run?

4. Multiply - That's your cost

5. Add 50% - To account for hidden costs

Done. It's not perfect, but it's useful.

Making Costs Visible

The calculation only matters if people see it. Display costs:

Before meetings: - On calendar invites

During meetings: - On screen or in notes

After meetings: - In summaries and reports

Visibility drives behavior change.

Start Simple

You don't need to calculate every meeting immediately. Start by tracking:

Your most frequent recurring meetings

Your largest meetings (most attendees)

Meetings you suspect aren't valuable

Calculate costs for these, see what you learn, and expand from there.

The Goal

The goal isn't to minimize meeting costs at all costs. Some expensive meetings are worth every penny.

The goal is awareness. When you know what meetings cost, you can:

Question whether they're necessary

Optimize them when they are

Make data-informed decisions about your time

And that awareness is invaluable.

[Calculate Your Meeting Costs Free →](/calculator)