The good old meeting is something of a point of contention in many offices. On the one hand, meetings are very important as a way of collaborating with colleagues, delivering important news face to face, and a great many other reasons.
But there’s no denying it, we’ve all had meetings that could just as easily been an email. In fact, if you google it, you’ll find plenty of notepads and mugs available to buy, which just goes to show how fed up many people are with the whole charade.
The problem
We’re willing to bet you’ve attended plenty of pointless meetings during your career. Meetings you’ve attended and wondered why exactly that was necessary. Or even meetings where you’ve sat and silently seethed as it drags on far longer than it needed to, while you’re sat thinking of all of the important work you’ve got to do and how little available time you have due to your packed meeting schedule.
Sound familiar? You’re definitely not alone, as this is a problem for companies everywhere. But have you ever thought about the financial cost of all the internal meetings in your diary? We’ve probably all thought about how much time they take up, and since time is money, it’s surprising that it isn’t something that’s talked about more in the workplace.
Whether you’re a boss, or an employee, how much money the meetings you attend actually cost is certainly something that would be good to know. The good news is that now you can find out! We found an online calculator that actually works it out for you.
The solution
MeetingCalculator.co.uk, which is brought to you by the folk at Silverdoor Apartments is an online interactive tool that shows you roughly how much the time spent in meetings costs, relative to the salaries of the employees who attend.
To use the tool, simply tell it how much time per week is typically spent in meetings, the number of attendees, and each attendee’s estimated annual salary, and the tool will then let you know how much said meetings are costing your company on a weekly and yearly basis, as well as how much of the attendees salaries that time accounts for!
We reckon that if you’re a boss, this tool could serve as something of a wake-up call that perhaps meetings need to be a little bit more structured if you find that your costs are very high!
And if you’re a disgruntled employee who has been forced to attend one meeting too many this week, why not share it around? It’s a great way to back up your point, and maybe it’ll be just the hint your boss needs to call fewer meetings and send a few more emails!
Of course, meetings will always have their place, and this is by no means a call to arms to do away with meetings altogether, but only holding meetings that are productive and efficient is certainly something that many workplaces could be a little more mindful of!