1. Scope
Computes the direct salary cost of a meeting from attendee count, loaded hourly rate, duration, and frequency. It does not quantify opportunity cost, context-switch cost, or decision quality.
2. Inputs and outputs
Inputs
- attendees number
- averageLoadedHourlyRate number (currency)
- durationMinutes number
- meetingsPerWeek number default: 1
- weeksPerYear number default: 48
Outputs
- costPerMeeting
attendees × rate × duration/60.
- weeklyCost
costPerMeeting × meetingsPerWeek.
- annualCost
weeklyCost × weeksPerYear.
Engine source: src/lib/meeting-cost-calculator/engine.ts
3. Formula / scoring logic
cost_per_meeting = attendees * hourly_rate * duration_minutes / 60
annual_cost = cost_per_meeting * meetings_per_week * weeks_per_year4. Assumptions
- Hourly rate is fully loaded (salary + benefits + overhead ÷ working hours).
- Every attendee is billable-time-on-task during the meeting.
- Prep and follow-up time are out of scope — add them manually if material.
5. Data sources
6. Known limitations
- Salary alone understates true meeting cost; context-switch and opportunity-cost estimates vary widely in the academic literature and are not bundled.
- Does not discount for meetings that genuinely create value — the tool reports cost, not net value.
7. Reproducibility
Input
attendees = 8, rate = $100/hr, duration = 60 min, meetings = 2/wk, weeks = 48.
Expected output
cost_per_meeting = $800, weekly = $1,600, annual = $76,800.
8. Change log
- 2026-04-24 methodology page first published.