When Video Calls Cost More Than They Are Worth
Patrick Bushe
February 17, 2025 · 5 min read
Video calls feel free, but they cost everyone's time, focus and energy. Some are worth it. Many could be a message.
What a call costs
- Salary time. Six people averaging $80,000 a year cost about $230 for a one-hour call, using 2,080 working hours a year.
- Focus. A call in the middle of the morning splits it into two short blocks that are hard to do deep work in.
- Energy. Back-to-back calls are tiring in a way in-person meetings often aren't.
The Meeting Cost Calculator shows the salary cost live: enter the number of people and their average salary and press start.
Why video calls are tiring
Stanford researcher Jeremy Bailenson described four causes in 2021: constant close-up eye contact, seeing yourself all the time, sitting still in front of the camera, and the extra effort of reading and sending signals over video. Each can be reduced.
When a call is worth it
- Complex problems that need back-and-forth.
- Decisions where people disagree.
- Sensitive conversations, such as feedback or bad news.
- Building relationships, such as with new colleagues or clients.
When to send something else
- Status updates: a written update or shared document.
- Information only: an email or a short recorded video people watch when convenient.
- A quick question: a chat message.
- Feedback on a document: comments in the document.
If you do have a call
- Send an agenda and invite only the people who need to decide or contribute.
- Make it shorter than the default: 25 or 50 minutes leaves a break before the next one. Google Calendar and Outlook have settings for this.
- Let people turn their camera off, and hide your own view.
- End with decisions and owners written down, and send them to everyone, including people who couldn't attend.
- Cancel recurring calls that no longer have a clear purpose, and review the rest every few months.
See running a productive remote meeting.
Try a call audit
Look at last week's calls and ask of each: did it need to be live, did everyone need to be there, and did it need that long? Cut or shorten one in three, and see whether anything is lost. Notes help here; Sticky Notes Anywhere keeps quick notes in your browser.
