Free tool
What does that meeting actually cost?
Enter who's there, what they earn and how often you meet. See what it costs each time and over a year.
The short answer
To work out what a meeting costs, multiply the number of people by their average hourly cost and by the meeting's length. Hourly cost is roughly yearly salary ÷ 2,080 hours, plus benefits and overhead. Six people on $80,000 for an hour a week comes to about $288 a meeting, or about $15,000 a year.
What to do with the number
- Don't cancel it just because it's expensive. Ask whether the decisions made are worth the number.
- Try fewer people first. Some can read the notes. See AI meeting notes.
- Try shorter. Cutting an hour to 30 minutes halves the cost, and many meetings fill whatever time they're given.
- Remember what isn't counted. This leaves out the time to prepare and get back to work.
Questions
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
People × hourly cost × hours. Hourly cost is about yearly salary ÷ 2,080, plus a share for benefits and overhead.
Why 2,080 hours?
It's 40 hours a week for 52 weeks, the usual way to turn a yearly salary into an hourly rate.
What should I enter for overhead?
A common rough figure is 20 to 40% for benefits, taxes and equipment. It's a judgement call, so set it to 0 to count salary alone.
Keep the notes, and skip some of the meetings.
Siela records from your own computer, with no bot in the call, and turns each meeting into decisions, owners and a drafted follow-up.