Your Meeting Addiction Is Costing $80,000 Per Year

The $80,000 Meeting Problem

The average knowledge worker costs their employer $80,000 per year in meeting-related expenses, according to new research from Otter.ai that analyzed 20 million meetings across 15,000 companies.

Consider this: The median knowledge-worker salary in the U.S. is $75,000. So meetings cost more than the actual paycheck. Every time you've thought "this meeting could have been an email," the data suggests you were absolutely right.

Why Meetings Multiply

Meetings aren't the disease—they're the symptom. The real culprit is unclear thinking and ambiguous written communication. When memos come down the pipeline without clear priorities, timelines, or ownership, "alignment" meetings inevitably follow.

"Good writing does not mean you come across sounding very smart as a leader," said Chris Kirksey, CEO of Direction.com, a healthcare SEO agency. "Good writing is when the leader has made the writing disappear so that the directions can become apparent."

Kirksey requires every written message to include a clear why, an exact who, and a defined what within the first two sentences. If those elements aren't there, it's written incorrectly.

The rise of AI tools can actually make this worse. "Tools like Claude/ChatGPT/Gemini make it easier to generate more words, but not clearer thinking," said David Smooke, founder and CEO of HackerNoon. "I'm seeing founders use AI to produce longer memos that still don't answer: Who owns this? What's the deadline? What does success look like?"

The Economics of Clear Communication

The ROI of better writing is measurable. Smooke's math is simple: "A 45-minute writing investment that prevents three one-hour meetings with six people saves 17.25 person-hours. Do that weekly and you've saved 900 person-hours annually."

Sam Meenasian, VP of sales and marketing at USA Business Insurance, contrasts vague versus specific communication: Instead of "Let's revisit the marketing strategy," try "Joe, please draft a revised Q2 marketing strategy by Tuesday, focusing on lead generation. Include three budget scenarios and circulate them for feedback by Thursday."

Todd Cechini, CEO of Dun-Rite Kitchens, learned this through experience: "Most meetings exist because people don't know what happens next." His solution? Every remodeling project gets a written sequence sheet taped to the client's refrigerator. "We cut our project status meetings by 70%," he said.

The Hidden Cost of Vague Leadership

Most leaders avoid clear writing because it requires hard decisions, while vague writing preserves deniability, according to Smooke. But this avoidance has a price tag.

Carolena Enayati, CEO of Response Ready, emphasizes the importance of context: "Explaining why a project matters, who will take responsibility, and the intended outcome ensures that employees understand both the purpose and their role."

Kirksey now requires anyone wanting a 15-minute call to submit a brief beforehand containing the decision required, background information, and a personal recommendation. "This very simple process has eliminated approximately 40% of our status update meetings."