Free tool
What do your recurring meetings cost?
Four questions, no calendar access. An estimate of the recurring meeting time your company doesn't need, in hours and in money.
Estimate · recurring meeting time nobody would miss
a year, at an hour
An estimate from typical meeting loads, not your calendar. How we estimate this
What these meetings cost a year
Want the real number? Fewer reads your calendar.
In the 14-day trial, Fewer connects to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and shows the software seats you pay for and don't use, each priced. As a bonus, it shows which recurring meetings take the most hours, who attends, and what they cost, and lets you trim or end some of them.
The 14-day trial opens in early November. We'll email you the day it does.
How we estimate this
The estimate multiplies five things together. Nothing you type leaves your browser.
| Assumption | Value | Basis |
|---|---|---|
| Desk share of headcount | Mostly desk 85%, mixed 50%, mostly frontline 20% | Fewer estimate |
| Level mix of desk staff | 5% executives, 15% managers, 80% staff | Fewer estimate |
| Executives' meeting hours | 23 hours a week | Research-based Harvard Business Review, 2017: executives average "nearly 23 hours a week" |
| Managers' meeting hours | 18 hours a week | Fewer estimate Taken from an all-employee average. |
| Staff meeting hours | 12 hours a week | Fewer estimate |
| How the week feels | Light 0.75, normal 1.0, back-to-back 1.25 | Fewer estimate |
| Share of meeting time that recurs | 39% | Research-based Flowtrace: 48% of meetings are recurring, averaging 28 minutes against 41 for one-offs. By time, that is 0.48 × 28 ÷ (0.48 × 28 + 0.52 × 41), about 39%. |
| Meeting types' starting values | Typical attendees, length and frequency for each type | Fewer estimate A starting point to edit. |
| Working weeks a year | 46 | Fewer estimate |
| Recurring time not needed, low end | 17% | Fewer estimate |
| Recurring time not needed, high end | 31% | Research-based Otter.ai survey of 632 employees, 2022: professionals say they would decline 31% of their meetings |
| US loaded hourly cost | US$78.88 | Research-based US Bureau of Labor Statistics, June 2026: total compensation for management, professional and related workers in private industry |
| Loaded hourly cost in Canada, Ireland, Germany, France, the Netherlands | C$79.45, €74.35, €75.70, €74.52, €80.58 | Research-based The official all-worker total labour cost per hour (Statistics Canada, 2024: C$47.23; Eurostat, 2025: Ireland €44.20, Germany €45.00, France €44.30, Netherlands €47.90), times 1.68. Fewer estimate 1.68 is the US ratio of management and professional cost to all-worker cost, US$78.88 ÷ US$46.89. |
| Salary to hourly cost | Salary × 1.3 ÷ 1,840 hours | Fewer estimate |
The steps. Desk staff is headcount times the desk share. Weekly meeting hours is desk staff times 13.45 hours, the level-weighted average, times the week dial. Recurring hours a year is that times the recurring share, times 46 weeks. Hours not needed is 17% to 31% of those. Cost is hours times the loaded hourly cost. Other countries can enter their own hourly cost or an average salary.
The model uses one hourly cost for everyone, even though executives and managers spend more of their week in meetings and usually cost more per hour, so it is conservative for leadership-heavy teams. The high end comes from what people say they would decline, which is a judgement, not a measurement. Hours are rounded to the nearest 100 and money to the nearest 1,000, each calculated from the exact figures.
Worked example. 150 people, mixed workforce, normal week, United States: 75 desk-based people spend about 1,009 hours a week in meetings. About 18,100 of the year's hours are recurring, and 17% to 31% of those, 3,100 to 5,600 hours, aren't needed. At US$78.88 an hour that is about US$243,000 to US$443,000 a year.
Pricing one meeting is simpler: attendees times length in hours times occurrences a year (daily 230, weekly 46, fortnightly 23, monthly 11) times the hourly cost.
Questions
How much do recurring meetings cost a company?
For a 150-person company with a mix of desk and frontline staff and a normal meeting load, this model estimates 3,100 to 5,600 hours a year of recurring meeting time that isn't needed, about US$243,000 to US$443,000 at US$78.88 an hour, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics figure for management, professional and related workers.
How do you calculate the cost of a meeting?
Multiply the number of attendees by the length in hours, by how many times it happens a year, by the loaded hourly cost of the people in the room. A weekly one-hour meeting with eight people costs 368 hours and about US$29,028 a year at US$78.88 an hour.
What is a loaded hourly cost?
Salary plus what the employer pays on top, such as benefits and payroll taxes, divided by the hours worked in a year. A rough rule is salary times 1.3, divided by 1,840 working hours.
What counts as a recurring meeting?
Any meeting on a repeating calendar series: daily stand-ups, weekly team meetings, one-to-ones, fortnightly reviews, monthly all-hands.
Why is the result a range?
The low end, 17%, is Fewer's conservative estimate. The high end, 31%, is the share of meetings professionals say they would decline if they could, from an Otter.ai survey of 632 employees. The calculator shows both rather than a falsely precise single number.
How do I find the real number for my company?
Fewer connects to Google Workspace or Microsoft 365 and shows which recurring meetings take the most hours, who attends, and what they cost, alongside the software you pay for and don't use.
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