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The Global Insight

What is the average cost of a meeting?

Author

John Hall

Updated on March 02, 2026

In North America, the average cost of a meeting is 650$US.

What is the estimated cost of unnecessary meetings each year?

A total of $37 billion is wasted on unnecessary meetings in the US annually.

How Much Is Too Much meetings?

How Many Meetings a Day is Too Many? On average, meetings last between 31 to 60 minutes. So, theoretically, in an 8 hour day, you could squeeze in between 8 to 16 meetings.

What percentage of time should be spent in meetings?

According to a study by Bain & Company, organizations spend about 15% of their time in meetings. As if all this time being spent on meetings is not enough, most people consider meetings to be unproductive.

How are meeting costs calculated?

Whether it’s a joke or a real question for the business, the formula is always all too simple: calculate each attendee’s hourly rate, multiply that rate by the duration of the meeting, then add each of the attendees’ costs together to get a total cost of the meeting.

How do you calculate cost per meeting?

Find out how much each costs annually or monthly, and then divide the total cost by the number of hours in a workweek (typically, this is 40). Doing so will give you a picture of how much your meeting setup costs are per 1-hour meeting.

How many meetings a week is normal?

How many meetings on average are people having per week? 8 meetings per week across all employee types and company size. 10 meetings per week for all employees above junior level. 12 meetings per week for executive management and higher.

How much time do people waste in meetings?

About 6% of workers say they spend more than 10 hours per week attending unproductive meetings and calls, 15% say they waste between five and 10 hours each week, 34% say they wasted between two and five hours each week and 34% say they waste between one and two hours each week.

How many meetings a day are too many?

Regardless, no matter who you are, it’s in your best interest not to exceed 3-4 meetings a day. It’s also recommended to think about your productivity levels. For this, ask yourself if you’re more productive in the afternoons or the mornings.

Are meetings useless?

Meetings are a necessary evil, but sometimes, they seem less necessary and more evil than they have to be. Too many meetings destroy morale and motivation.” That’s because excessive meetings tend to be draining on employees and waste company time.

How much does it cost to attend a business meeting?

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, top executives were paid an average of $48.87 per hour (or $101,650 annually) in 2012. This means that, on average, a business will spend more than $780 for just one executive to attend his or her meetings for the week.

Why are meetings the most expensive overhead cost?

Meetings are probably one of the most expensive overhead costs within your organization, and many are considered ineffective. However, many organizations believe collaboration is synonymous with holding meetings. The bottom line is that meetings are a fact of life, so why is no one doing anything to fix them?

Where do I get my meeting statistics from?

These meeting statistics are from a variety of academic research studies, lists, and polls. The aggregated numbers address unproductive meetings statistics, statistics on time spent in meetings, and the statistical cost of meetings. Meeting statistics come from a survey of 757 workers in the US conducted through SurveyMonkey.

Is it worth it to have a meeting every day?

Meetings are an investment of time and money, and they should be prioritized accordingly for employers and employees alike. To learn more about the state of meetings, take a look at our newest infographic below. What are meetings truly costing your organization?