How much a meeting costs

A one-hour meeting with six people does not cost one hour: it costs six. Putting a figure on it tends to change how meetings get called.

The monthly and annual cost of a recurring meeting is especially eye-opening.

Each attendee's hours are multiplied by the hourly cost. That cost should include gross salary plus employer contributions and overhead, not just take-home pay.

The cost is more than the hourly wage

To the time in the room you must add preparation, pre-reading and, above all, the interruption cost: picking up a complex task after a meeting takes a considerable while. A one-hour meeting rarely costs one hour of work per person.

Which hourly cost to use

The sensible figure is total cost to the employer, not gross pay: salary plus social contributions plus a proportional share of overheads. In many countries that figure exceeds gross pay by more than a third, so using salary alone substantially underestimates the result.

What the figure is actually for

Not to ban meetings, but to size them. Seeing that a weekly meeting of eight people costs a full salary over a year is usually enough to review who genuinely needs to attend, whether half an hour would do, or whether a shared document would achieve the same.

Fewer people and an agenda in advance

The two measures with most effect are reducing attendees to those who decide or contribute, and sending the objective in writing beforehand. A meeting without an agenda tends to fill whatever time was booked, regardless of what needed covering.