What’s the actual cost of an hour-long meeting?

Here’s how to calculate it.

On a salary of £30k, one hour is £14
On a salary of £60k, one hour is £28
On a salary of £90k, one hour is £42
On a salary of £150k, one hour is £70

To figure out the cost, you need to calculate the total rate of everyone in the meeting.

But it’s not just that.

There’s the time spent arranging the meeting.
There’s the time spent preparing and following up the meeting.
There’s the time spent regaining concentration after switching tasks.
There’s the opportunity cost of the thing you now can’t do instead.
Meetings can also be fatiguing, which costs your productivity for the rest of the day.

If a salesperson can close one new deal every hour, the cost of an internal meeting with them includes the cost of the sale they now can’t secure. Over the course of a year that’s a lot of sales. That’s a lot of growth. Lost in favour of meetings that probably could have been voice notes or emails.

Each two or three-person meeting has an associated cost.
A company-wide meeting might cost thousands.

Look at your week and calculate the cost of all your meetings. Are they really worth it? What’s the alternative?