Shopify has escalated its crackdown on unnecessary meetings by highlighting just how much it costs every time workers gather on the company dime.
The Canadian e-commerce giant has rolled out a "Meeting Cost Calculator" which pops up on employees' Google Calendar when three or more guests are invited to gather to show them how much it costs to bounce ideas in person or on Zoom.
The tool tallies up the cost per attendee based on the meeting length and average compensation data across roles. That means a typical 30-minute huddle with three employees reportedly costs between $700 to $1,600. Adding a C-suite member could push the meeting cost north of $2,000.
By showing workers that time is money, Shopify hopes many will reconsider which meetings are justifiable.
“No one at Shopify would expense a $500 dinner,” its chief operating officer who built the program, Kaz Nejatian, told Bloomberg. “But lots and lots of people spend way more than that in meetings without ever making a decision.”
By getting rid of even three meetings a week per person, Shopify estimates it will see a 15% reduction in overall costs.
This is in addition to the 76,500 hours worth of meetings it culled earlier this year, as part of the company’s yearlong drive to reduce pointless gatherings.
But experts tell Fortune any short-term productivity gains may be outweighed by the damage of shaming workers into cutting back on meetings.
The cost of too many meetings
Engagement consultancy Engage’s studies show that meeting overload demotivates workers.
Around 46% of employees surveyed felt frustration with a lack of need for meetings, no clear objectives and unclear outcomes.
“This suggests Shopify’s intent is right and optimizing meetings for efficiency and impact is the right place to start,” Andy Brown, CEO of Engages says with the caveat: “Whether the meeting cost “calculator” helps them get there remains to be seen”
Meetings have increased as employers try to retain collaboration in a hybrid working world, but it can result in workers being in constant conversation about work, with little time left to actually do the work discussed.
It’s why Kamyar Shah, business coach and CEO of the management consultancy, World Consulting Group, “applauds” Shopify's move to put a price on meetings because it gives employees more autonomy and frees up their time.
“It encourages employees to be more deliberate about the meetings they attend, reducing the likelihood of pointless ones,” he says. “This approach also sends a warning to top management about how much time and money they’re actually wasting by scheduling worthless meetings.”
A Shopify spokesperson told Fortune: “The Shopify Meeting Cost Calculator empowers all colleagues to say no to a meeting if they don't think it's the best use of their time.
"We're not putting a limit on meetings, we're showing a projected cost to give colleagues information to help them make their own informed decision about whether a meeting is the best or most efficient way to connect.”
But the move may come with “significant” risks
While many of the experts Fortune spoke to agreed that endless meetings cost money, increase frustration and destroy the employee engagement they are designed to bolster, they also cautioned that Shopify's new gadget may be a step too far.
“While the commercial reasoning is understandable, the move comes with some significant long-term risks,” Kate Davis accredited leadership expert and CEO of the organizational development consultancy Meraki House says.
She suggests that businesses would be better off ensuring workers have the psychological safety to challenge others and voice their opinions so that workers are able to get straight to the point in meetings - improving effective communication and ending any needless back-and-forth.
“People work better, and more efficiently when they feel they have a say and are empowered to deliver. Muffling them for short-term gain is short-sighted,” Davis adds.
What’s more, Jasmine Eskenzi, CEO of the productivity and wellbeing app The Zensory warns that while such tools are “a step in the right direction for taking productivity seriously”, they could be detrimental to workers' mental health.
“It makes employees feel like numbers, viewing them as profit, rather than people,” she said.
It’s a feeling that Chris Preston, founder of the consultancy The Culture Builders, knows too well.
He recalls working with a large pharmaceutical company that introduced 'meeting clocks' that recorded the cost of the meeting based on the number of participants and the time taken.
“They were removed within a week,” he says.
