Estimate the true cost and efficiency of a remote meeting. Include attendees, preparation, follow-up work, labor cost, relevance, decisions, and recurring frequency to identify wasted time and potential asynchronous savings.
The main result is the estimated labor cost of one meeting. Supporting results show annual recurring cost, potentially wasted cost, and savings available from replacing the meeting with an asynchronous update.
A low-cost meeting can still be inefficient when relevance and measurable outcomes are poor. Review both cost and the health score.
Eight attendees join a 60-minute meeting, each spending 15 minutes preparing and 15 minutes following up. At $40 per hour, the meeting uses 12 team hours and costs $480. Held twice weekly for 48 weeks, it costs $46,080 per year.
Multiply the total labor cost of one meeting by the number of meetings per week and the number of working weeks per year. Include preparation and follow-up time, not only the scheduled meeting duration.
Only employees who contribute to the decision, provide required information, or own a follow-up action should attend the full meeting. Others can receive an asynchronous summary.
It often is when the meeting is mainly a status update. Compare the labor cost of the meeting with the time required to write and review an asynchronous update.
Divide the total meeting labor cost by the number of decisions made. If no decision is produced, the meeting should be reviewed for redesign or replacement.
Calculate the team hours removed by the shorter duration, multiply by hourly labor cost, and then multiply by the annual meeting frequency.
| Module | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Cost per Meeting | Total labor cost of one remote meeting |
| Annual Meeting Cost | Recurring yearly meeting expense |
| Wasted Cost | Cost associated with irrelevant meeting time |
| Async Savings | Potential savings from an asynchronous update |
| Meeting Health Score | Relevance, outcome, and cost-efficiency score |