FREE TOOL · MEETINGS
Meeting cost calculator
Who is in the room, for how long, how often. The calculator prices each person at what they cost the employer, salary plus benefits, and shows what the same meeting costs with only the people it needs to decide.
$361 a meeting
8 people for 30 minutes: $12.05 a minute, $723 an hour.
- Weekly, 48 meetings a year
- $17,346
- Person-hours a year
- 192
- Only the 3 needed to decide
- $145
- Saved a year with only them
- $10,381
- 4 × Software developer: $190.89 ($95.45 an hour each)
- 1 × Engineering or IT manager: $61.47 ($122.93 an hour each)
- 1 × Project manager: $35.91 ($71.82 an hour each)
- 1 × QA tester: $36.61 ($73.21 an hour each)
- 1 × Designer: $36.50 ($73.00 an hour each)
One line for the invite or Slack:
What one attendee costs, by role
One person at the BLS median pay for the role, times 1.46 for benefits and payroll taxes, over 2,080 paid hours a year. The last column is one hour a week for 48 weeks.
| Role | An hour | 15 min | 30 min | 1 hour weekly, a year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Software developermedian $135,980 a year | $95.45 | $23.86 | $47.72 | $4,581 |
| Engineering or IT managermedian $175,140 a year | $122.93 | $30.73 | $61.47 | $5,901 |
| Project managermedian $102,320 a year | $71.82 | $17.96 | $35.91 | $3,447 |
| QA testermedian $104,300 a year | $73.21 | $18.30 | $36.61 | $3,514 |
| Designermedian $104,000 a year | $73.00 | $18.25 | $36.50 | $3,504 |
| Average private industry workerall jobs, total cost as published | $46.89 | $11.72 | $23.45 | $2,251 |
Medians from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook, May 2025 data. The manager row is BLS “computer and information systems managers”, the designer row “web and digital interface designers”. Half the people in each job earn more.
Where the 1.46 comes from
A salary is not what a person costs. The Bureau of Labor Statistics measures what employers pay per hour worked. For management, professional and related jobs in private industry in June 2026 that was $78.88, of which wages and salaries were $54.06 (ECEC Table 4). $78.88 / $54.06 = 1.46.
For all private industry workers BLS reports that “wages and salaries averaged $32.82 and accounted for 70.0 percent of employer costs” of $46.89 an hour, a factor of 1.43. For state and local government it is $66.45 over $40.67, or 1.63 (ECEC news release, September 9, 2026). Pick the one closest to your company.
How the calculator works
- Hourly cost. Salary / paid hours a year × employer factor × (1 + overhead). An hourly rate skips the division.
- Paid hours. 2,080 is 40 hours × 52 weeks. Paid leave is already inside the BLS factor, so do not take vacation off the hours as well.
- Overhead. Office space, laptops and software are not compensation, so BLS leaves them out. Add them as a percentage if you know yours. It is 0 by default.
- A year of it. Every workday is 5 meetings a week, every 2 weeks is half the weeks, monthly is 12. The weeks it runs default to 48; change them for your holidays.
- Needed to decide. For each role, say how many of the people must be there for the decision. The rest could read the notes. The result shows that smaller meeting and what it saves.
- Not counted. Preparation, the time to get back into focused work after the meeting, and what the attendees would have shipped instead. The real cost is higher than this number, not lower.
Meetings the calendar does not show
Microsoft’s Work Trend Index read anonymised Microsoft 365 signals and found that “57% of meetings are ad hoc calls without a calendar invite”. Those calls have a cost too: price a typical one with “Once”. It also found that large meetings of 65 or more people are the fastest-growing kind (Breaking down the infinite workday, June 2025).
For a recurring meeting the yearly number is the one to bring to a retro. A 1:1 is a meeting worth its cost when it is used well: see one on one questions by situation. When the calendar fills up, it shows in people first: developer burnout signs.
Plan sprints with the meeting hours taken out
Hours in standing meetings are hours nobody spends on issues. In Workload & Capacity Planner you set each person’s weekly capacity, so set it net of their meetings: 40 hours with 6 in meetings is 34. Its heatmap then shows the weeks where Jira estimates go past what is left.
For one sprint, the sprint capacity calculator takes meeting time off each person’s days. To weigh a meeting against the work it delays, try the cost of delay calculator.
Frequently asked questions
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
For each person: annual salary divided by 2,080 paid hours, times the employer cost factor (1.46 for professional jobs, from BLS), times the meeting length in hours. Add everyone up. Eight people at BLS median pay in a 30-minute meeting cost about $361.
How much does a 1-hour meeting cost?
One software developer at the BLS median of $135,980 costs the employer about $95.45 an hour with benefits. The 8-person team in the example (4 developers, a manager, a project manager, a tester and a designer) costs about $723 an hour.
Should a meeting cost include benefits?
Yes, if you want the cost to the company. BLS found that for management and professional jobs in private industry, wages are 68.5% of what the employer pays per hour worked. Benefits (paid leave, insurance, retirement, payroll taxes) add the rest, so the hourly cost is 1.46 times the wage.
What does a weekly meeting cost in a year?
The 30-minute weekly meeting in the example costs about $17,346 a year over 48 weeks, and takes 192 person-hours. With only the 3 people needed to decide, it would cost $6,965.
Why 2,080 hours, if people take vacation?
2,080 is 40 hours times 52 weeks: the hours a salary pays for. BLS counts paid leave as a benefit and divides by hours actually worked, so the 1.46 factor already covers vacation and holidays. Using fewer hours as well would count leave twice. Change the hours if your full-time week is not 40.
Does it work outside the US?
Yes. Pick your currency and type your own salaries or hourly rates. The salary defaults and the employer cost factors are US figures from BLS; for another country choose "Salary only" and put your own on-costs into the overhead field.
Is what I type sent anywhere?
No. The numbers stay in your browser: the page sends nothing and stores nothing. Copy uses your browser’s clipboard.