Have you ever walked out of a meeting saying to yourself “that was a complete waste of time, there is another two hours I’m not going to get a refund on”?
Meetings are an unavoidable fact of life and according to an LSE study the average manager spends 18 to 26 hours per week in formal and informal meetings; and the average meeting comprises of eight people!
What is Opportunity Cost?
Simply stated: “What you would have done if you didn’t make the choice that you did”, so the moment you commit to X you have decided not to do Y, as a leader we need to ask some important questions before we call meetings. One such question is what sort of ROI or return on investment will we get from the meeting?
Too often we hold a £5000 meeting to solve a £500 problem, in normal business life any expenditure also has to have a receipt or some proof of purchase, but sadly the same rationale seems not apply to meetings. The table below gives you some indication of the true cost of meetings in financial terms, so before calling another meeting, do the maths!
|
Annual Salary (£) |
Weekly Salary (£) |
Overheads (+40%) |
Total per Week (£) |
Value per Hour (£)* |
Value per Minute (£) |
|
15,000 |
288 |
115 |
403 |
10.75 |
0.18 |
|
20,000 |
385 |
154 |
539 |
14.37 |
0.24 |
|
25,000 |
481 |
192 |
673 |
18.00 |
0.30 |
|
30,000 |
577 |
231 |
808 |
21.55 |
0.36 |
|
35,000 |
673 |
269 |
942 |
25.12 |
0.42 |
|
50,000 |
961 |
384 |
1345 |
35.87 |
0.60 |
|
100,000 |
1923 |
769 |
2692 |
71.78 |
1.20 |
- based on a paid 37½ hour week
Written by Jim Hetherton, one of our Productivity Ninja’s based in the North of England.
If you feel your meetings are inefficient, unproductive or ineffective then have a look at our ‘Making Meetings Magic’ course. This course offers facilitation training that gives you an opportunity to think about what makes effective and productive meetings, and gives you the tools to help you make every meeting magic.
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