Meeting Cost Calculator
Calculate the real cost of any meeting based on attendees' salaries and duration.
Find out how much your recurring meetings cost annually and compare to alternatives.
The Real Cost of a Meeting
Every meeting costs money — not just in direct wages, but in lost opportunity cost. The true cost includes salary, benefits overhead, office space, and the work that didn’t get done during the meeting.
Basic Formula Total Cost = (Sum of hourly rates) × Duration (hours) × Overhead Multiplier
Hourly Rate from Annual Salary Hourly rate = Annual salary ÷ 2,080 (Based on 40 hours/week × 52 weeks = 2,080 working hours per year)
Overhead Multiplier An employee’s true cost to a company is higher than their salary alone. Benefits, taxes, office space, equipment, and administration add 25–100% on top:
- Minimum overhead: 1.25× salary (salary + basic benefits)
- Standard overhead: 1.5× salary (fully loaded employee cost, typical US company)
- High overhead: 2.0× salary (includes real estate, management time, IT support)
Annual Recurring Cost If this meeting repeats regularly, the annual cost quickly becomes significant. A 10-person, 1-hour weekly meeting at $80,000 average salary costs the company over $38,000 per year in direct salary cost alone — before overhead.
The Amazon Two-Pizza Rule Jeff Bezos famously instituted the “two-pizza rule” at Amazon: if a meeting requires more food than two pizzas can feed, the meeting is too large. Smaller meetings are generally more productive.
The 6-Pager Alternative Amazon also replaced many meetings with a written 6-page memo that attendees read silently at the start of the “meeting.” This forces clearer thinking, allows everyone to digest information at their own pace, and often eliminates the meeting entirely.
Opportunity Cost The true measure isn’t just what the meeting costs — it’s what didn’t get built, written, or solved while everyone sat in a conference room.