Meeting cost calculator
Find out what that weekly status meeting really costs. Then decide whether it should be an email.
The calculator
How it works
Each person's hourly cost is their salary times the multiplier, divided by 2,080 working hours. Multiply by the number of people and the length, and you have the cost of one meeting. Multiply by how often it happens for the yearly cost.
A one-hour weekly meeting with six people on $95,000 salaries costs about $356 each time, and over $18,000 a year. That's before anyone writes up the notes.
Five ways to make meetings cheaper
- Send an agenda, or cancel. No agenda usually means no decision.
- Invite fewer people. Those who only need the outcome can read the notes.
- Default to 25 or 50 minutes. The calculator shows what 15 minutes saves.
- Stop typing notes during the call. Let a notetaker do it, so everyone can pay attention. See How to take meeting notes without typing.
- Share decisions and action items right after. Fewer "quick follow-up" meetings. Our free meeting notes template has a slot for each.
Fetch records your calls on your own Windows PC, writes the transcript without a bot joining, and turns it into a summary, decisions and action items with your own Claude or ChatGPT account.
Questions people ask
Why multiply salaries by 1.3?
Salary is only part of what a person costs. Benefits, payroll taxes, equipment and office space often add 25 to 40 percent. Set the multiplier to 1 to count salary only.
How many working hours are in a year?
The calculator uses 2,080, which is 52 weeks of 40 hours. It is the usual figure for turning a yearly salary into an hourly cost.
Does it count time before and after the meeting?
Not unless you add it. Switching tasks takes a few minutes on each side, so many people add 5 to 10 minutes to the length.
Is anything I type sent anywhere?
No. The math runs in your browser.
Still scratching your head?
Send us a note and a real person will get back to you.