Meeting Cost Calculator

What Is the Meeting Cost Calculator?

This calculator prices out a meeting by multiplying attendee count by their average hourly cost and the meeting's duration -- a common exercise for questioning (or justifying) recurring meetings, since the combined cost of many people's time is often far higher than it feels in the moment.

How to Use This Calculator

Enter the number of attendees, their average hourly rate (salary-equivalent cost, not just wage), and the meeting's duration in minutes. The result shows cost per hour and total meeting cost.

How the Cost Is Calculated

Worked Example

Practical Uses

• Questioning whether a recurring meeting's value justifies its real cost
• Building a case for shortening or canceling a low-value standing meeting
• Estimating the true cost of a large all-hands or planning meeting

For a broader look at time spent at work beyond meetings, see the Work Hours Calculator.

A Second Worked Example

Consider a weekly staff meeting with 12 attendees at an assumed average cost of $45 per hour, running 45 minutes. Cost per hour is 12 times 45, or $540. Total cost is 540 times 0.75, or $405. Cost per minute is 540 divided by 60, or $9. Over 50 occurrences in a year, that meeting costs about $20,250 in attendee time. These figures are hypothetical, and the point is scale: a modest-seeming recurring meeting can represent a large amount of paid time.

Estimating a Realistic Hourly Cost

Use the loaded cost of an hour of employee time, not just the wage. For a salaried person, divide annual pay by the number of working hours, commonly about 2,080 for a full-time year, then add an allowance for employer-paid benefits and payroll costs. The right percentage varies by employer, so use your finance team's figure if you have one; the 25 to 30 percent uplift suggested on this page is only a rough placeholder. For a group with very different salaries, an average hides the spread, so if a senior executive is present, consider running the calculation in two parts.

• Annual salary divided by about 2,080 gives a base hourly figure for a full-time role.
• Add benefits and overhead if you want the true cost to the company.
• Average the hourly figures of attendees, weighting by how many of each level attend.

Using the Number Constructively

A cost figure is a prompt for a question, not a verdict. A meeting that costs $400 may be well worth it if it prevents a costly mistake or unblocks several people. The calculator only measures the input cost, not the value produced. Useful follow-up questions are whether every attendee needs to be there, whether the agenda could be handled by email, and whether the meeting could be shorter. Cutting the guest list from 12 to 8 in the example saves a third of the cost without changing the length.

What Is Not Included

The result covers only the scheduled minutes. It leaves out preparation, follow-up, the cost of context switching before and after the meeting, room costs, and any travel. It also treats the average rate as applying equally to everyone. If the real cost matters, for example for a business case to change a meeting policy, add these items separately and state your assumptions clearly rather than presenting the figure as exact.

Presenting the Result

When sharing the number with colleagues, describe it as an estimate built on assumed average rates. Avoid using individual salaries, which is sensitive information; averages or ranges serve the purpose. It is often more persuasive to show cost per minute or annual cost for a recurring meeting, since these make the scale easier to grasp.

Frequently Asked Questions