Vocations · Professional Development · Workplace skills

Put a price on
the standing
meeting.

Type how long the meeting runs, how often, and who sits in it. The calculator turns typical pay into the cost of each meeting and of a year of them, and shows what fifteen fewer minutes would save.

Cost a meetingWhat you get

The meeting cost calculator

The worked example is made up: a weekly project status meeting with ten people at typical rates for their roles. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
The cost of one meeting and of a year of them, the cost a minute, the person-hours a year, each group’s share, and what cutting 15 minutes would save. It prints as a one-page summary and downloads as a spreadsheet for a proposal to change the meeting.
Who it is for
Early-career professionals and team leads, managers reviewing a calendar, school leaders planning staff meetings, and teachers of business and career readiness.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Up to 20 groups. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Name the meeting and type its length, prep time per person and how often it meets.
  2. Add each group of attendees with the number of people and a typical rate or salary for the role.
  3. Add a benefits load if you want employer costs included.
  4. Read the cost per meeting and per year, and the saving from a shorter meeting.
  5. Print the summary or download the spreadsheet.

Cost a meeting

How the cost is worked out

People, times hourly cost, times time in the room.

The five developers in the worked example, one meetingHourly pay$53.85$112,000 ÷ 2,080With 30% benefits$70.00an hour each5 people × 70 min$40860 meeting + 10 prepFive developers, one meetingHourly pay$53.85$112,000 ÷ 2,080+30% benefits$70.00an hour each5 people × 70 minutes$40860 minutes of meeting and 10 of prep
The developers alone cost $408 each Monday: $70.00 an hour each with benefits, five of them, for 70 minutes.

The arithmetic

A yearly salary becomes an hourly rate over 2,080 hours, forty hours for fifty-two weeks. The benefits load, if you set one, adds employer-paid benefits and payroll taxes on top. Each group costs its people times their hourly cost times the meeting length plus prep, in hours. The year multiplies one meeting by how many times it meets.

Using the number well

The point is not that meetings are waste: a good meeting can save far more than it costs. The number helps decide what deserves a meeting, who needs to be in it and how long it should run. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that benefits make up roughly three tenths of what employers spend on compensation, which is why a load of about 30% to 45% on pay is common in cost estimates.

Sources

  1. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation (bls.gov/ecec): wages and salaries and benefits as shares of total compensation.
  2. U.S. Office of Personnel Management. Pay and leave: computing hourly rates of pay using the 2,087-hour divisor (opm.gov): how federal pay converts salaries, alongside the common 2,080-hour convention used here.
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (bls.gov/oes): typical wages by occupation.
  4. Rogelberg, S. G. (2019). The Surprising Science of Meetings. Oxford University Press: agendas, attendance and meeting length.

The worked example is made up, including the pay. Use typical rates for roles, not anyone’s actual pay. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.