Working hours: Expensive and inefficient? This is how much your last meeting cost

Inefficient meetings consume significant costs in German companies. Handelsblatt quantifies how much your last meeting truly cost and shows how to make these gatherings more effective to boost productivity.

Working Time: Expensive and Inefficient? This Is How Much Your Last Meeting Cost

Corporate Germany spends a significant portion of its working hours in meetings. However, these meetings are often characterized by long discussions, a lack of preparation, and unclear results, leading to substantial costs with simultaneously low added value. A recent analysis suggests that this inefficiency not only reduces productivity but also directly impacts finances. Calculating the actual costs of a meeting often reveals a surprising dimension of resource consumption that goes beyond the mere attendance time of participants and must take into account full salary expenses including fringe benefits.

The problem of inefficient meetings has been known for a long time, yet its monetary impact is often underestimated in everyday corporate life. For example, if five employees with an average gross monthly salary of 6,000 euros including fringe benefits participate in a two-hour meeting, the personnel costs for this single gathering already amount to several hundred euros—a sum that quickly adds up to significant amounts with regular and poorly structured meetings. Experts therefore call for greater awareness of these hidden costs to encourage companies toward more effective meeting cultures. This includes the clear definition of goals, adherence to agendas, and the precise recording of decisions and tasks.

In the context of today's working world, which is supposed to be characterized by agility and efficiency, these findings gain additional importance. Especially in complex projects and less hierarchically structured environments, meetings are an essential communication tool. It is all the more important that they do not become a productivity brake. Professional moderation, the consistent involvement of all relevant stakeholders, and the avoidance of unnecessary participants can help to significantly increase the effectiveness and thus the "return on investment" of every meeting.

For aspiring managers and current MBA students, the ability to design and moderate efficient meetings is a key competency. Course content in the areas of project management, organizational development, and leadership is explicitly dedicated to these topics to provide graduates with the tools for optimized corporate management. Understanding the economic implications of time resources and the ability to critically question and improve processes are among the core tasks of a modern leader. The optimization of meeting cultures is therefore not just a question of efficiency, but also a direct management issue that influences the profitability and future viability of a company.