How to Track and Report Meeting Costs Quarterly

Meeting costs are easy to ignore because they never appear as a line on a budget. Measuring them every quarter turns a vague feeling ("we have too many meetings") into numbers you can act on, and shows whether changes are working.

1. Get the calendar data

• Google Calendar: work accounts show Time insights, a breakdown of your time in meetings. For a team, Google Workspace administrators can pull calendar reports, or each person can share their insights.
• Microsoft 365: Viva Insights shows personal and team meeting time, depending on your licence.
• Manual: for a small team, list recurring meetings with their length, frequency and attendee count in a spreadsheet.

2. Use a simple cost formula

Cost of a meeting = length in hours × number of attendees × average hourly cost per person.

Hourly cost is salary divided by about 2,080 working hours a year. Salary alone understates the cost: US Bureau of Labor Statistics data show wages and salaries make up about 70% of total employee compensation, with benefits making up the rest. Many teams multiply salary-based hourly cost by about 1.3 to 1.4 to include benefits.

For example, a weekly one-hour meeting with eight people at a $100,000 average salary costs about $385 in salary each time, or around $5,000 a quarter, before benefits. The meeting cost calculator does the math for any meeting.

3. What to put in the report

• Total meeting hours and estimated cost for the quarter.
• Meeting hours as a share of working time, by team.
• The ten most expensive recurring meetings.
• Change since last quarter.
• One or two recommendations, such as cutting a meeting, shortening it or inviting fewer people.

4. Compare quarters fairly

Use the same method each time, note changes in team size, and flag unusual events such as planning weeks, launches or holidays. The trend matters more than any single number.

5. Make costs visible day to day

Meeting Cost Calculator shows a live total during a meeting, using the number of attendees and an average salary. Seeing the number climb in real time is often more persuasive than a quarterly report.

Keep it fair

• Report on meetings and teams, not individuals.
• Use average salaries rather than real pay, to protect privacy.
• Count the value too: some expensive meetings are worth it.

See presenting meeting costs to leadership and the yearly cost of recurring meetings.