Productivity Calculators
Meeting cost.
Enter how many people attend, what they are paid on average and how long the meeting runs. You get the cost per minute, per meeting and, if it repeats, per year. Runs in your browser; nothing is sent or stored.
Meeting
Cost
Fill the form and press Calculate.
Worked example
Six people at an average of $45 an hour, with 25% overhead, meet for 60 minutes. The loaded rate is $45 x 1.25 = $56.25 an hour, so the meeting costs 6 x $56.25 x 1 hour = $337.50, about $5.63 for every minute the room is occupied. Held once a week for 48 weeks it costs $16,200 a year and uses 288 person-hours.
How it works
Cost = attendees x hourly rate x (1 + overhead percent) x hours. Prep or travel minutes are added to the length for every attendee. Cost per year = cost per meeting x times per week x weeks per year.
If you only know salaries, the tool divides the annual figure by 2,087, the average number of work hours in a calendar year used by the US Office of Personnel Management. Use your own hours per year if your people work a different schedule and enter an hourly rate instead.
Overhead is your assumption. No standard percentage is built in, and the default of 25% is only a placeholder. Set it to 0 to count wages alone. The result is the cost of the time, not a measure of whether the meeting was worth it.
Sources and basis (checked 2026-10-08): U.S. Office of Personnel Management, Computing Hourly Rates of Pay Using the 2,087-Hour Divisor (opened 2026-10-08), for the 2,087-hour average work year. Everything else is arithmetic on the numbers you enter.
FAQ
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
Multiply the number of attendees by their average hourly rate and by the length of the meeting in hours. Add an overhead percentage if you want to count benefits and other costs on top of pay.
What hourly rate should I use?
Use the average for the people in the room. If you only have salaries, choose the annual option and the tool divides by 2,087, the average number of work hours in a year used by the US Office of Personnel Management.
What overhead percent should I enter?
That is your own assumption. The tool has no official figure built in. Enter 0 to count wages only, or a percentage that reflects benefits, payroll taxes and equipment in your organisation.
Does the cost include time before and after the meeting?
Only if you enter it. The prep or travel field adds minutes per attendee to the meeting length.
Does a high cost mean the meeting is a waste?
No. The figure shows what the time costs, not what it produces. It is a prompt to check that the people and the length are needed.