You think meetings are free. They're not.
The direct cost is easy to calculate: ten people in a one-hour meeting at $50/hour average is $500. But the indirect costs are higher.
The Hidden Costs
The interrupted workday
A one-hour meeting doesn't just cost one hour. It costs the hour before (prep) and the hour after (recovery). That's three hours of disruption for every one-hour meeting.
The deep work destruction
Knowledge workers need long stretches of uninterrupted time to do their best work. Every meeting breaks that stretch. And it takes 23 minutes on average to get back into deep focus after an interruption.
The creativity tax
Creative work requires flow. Flow requires sustained attention. Meetings are attention interruptions. Teams that meet constantly produce less creative work.
The Real Cost
Let's say you're in 5 hours of meetings per week. At a $100k/year salary, that's roughly $25k/year in meeting time. But add the indirect costs — prep, recovery, deep work destruction — and the real cost is closer to $50k/year.
For a 10-person team, that's $500k/year in meeting costs.
Is your calendar worth $500k/year?
How to Reduce Meeting Costs
- Cut meetings by 50% — most teams can
- Shorten what's left — do you need an hour?
- Make them async — can this be a doc?
- Cancel the recurring ones — when did you last question them?
The best teams are ruthless about meetings. Every meeting needs to justify its cost.
Your time is expensive. Your team's time is even more expensive. Treat it that way.
Top comments (0)