{"id":4406,"date":"2018-12-01T00:00:15","date_gmt":"2018-12-01T08:00:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/?p=4406"},"modified":"2022-03-07T19:07:12","modified_gmt":"2022-03-07T19:07:12","slug":"time-out","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/navc.sitepreview.app\/todaysveterinarybusiness.com\/time-out\/","title":{"rendered":"Time out!"},"content":{"rendered":"

Staff meetings, department meetings, management meetings, lunch and learns. Veterinary professionals are not immune to the meetings epidemic that plagues many companies. Meetings are often a necessary evil, but many of them are unexciting, unfocused and unproductive. We rarely stop to think about the real cost of meetings because, after all, the attendees are clocked in anyway.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s do some back-of-the-envelope calculations on an hour-long meeting.<\/p>\n

Staff Cost<\/h3>\n

Let\u2019s pretend 20 employees make a conservative average of $20 an hour, taking benefits into account. Sure, some make less and some make more. But it\u2019s an easy average.<\/p>\n

20 times $20 equals $400 during a 60-minute meeting.<\/em><\/p>\n

Subtotal: $400<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Food and Drinks<\/h3>\n

Of course, the most important part of any good meeting is the food. Depending on how fancy you want to be, you can easily spend $200 on 20 attendees.<\/p>\n

Subtotal: $400 in payroll plus $200 for food equals $600.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Opportunity Cost<\/h3>\n

When receptionists are in a meeting, they can\u2019t schedule appointments. Meanwhile, nurses and doctors can\u2019t take care of patients. Let\u2019s assume the practice generates $2 million a year. How much does the hospital make per hour?<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s say the clinic is open from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Friday. That\u2019s 11 hours a day. Saturday hours are from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. \u2014 five hours. That\u2019s a total of 60 hours a week for 52 weeks, or 3,120 hours a year.<\/p>\n

Let\u2019s take holidays into account. Seven holidays a year times 11 hours equals 77 hours. Do the math: 3,120 minus 77 equals 3,043 business hours.<\/p>\n

So, how much does the practice generate per hour? We divide $2 million by 3,043 business hours. The hour-long meeting potentially costs $657 in lost business.<\/p>\n

Grand total: $400 in payroll plus $200 for food plus $657 in opportunity cost equals $1,257, or $21 a minute.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Let\u2019s be conservative and say the meeting is monthly. That\u2019s over $15,000 a year! If you add all the other meetings that invariably take place, you easily could spend $20,000 on meetings every year.<\/p>\n

How to Use These Numbers<\/h3>\n

You can apply similar calculations to your clinic. Factor in the number of receptionists, nurses, kennel helpers, managers and doctors, as well as the number of working hours and meetings<\/a>, and then you\u2019ll have a good idea of where you stand.<\/p>\n

Using my calculations, here is how a practice owner or manager needs to look at poorly led meetings:<\/p>\n