Communication Cost Calculator - Email vs Slack vs Meetings

Your team details

Team size 10

2 25 50 75 100

Average hourly rate

Hours per week on email 8 hrs

1h 5h 10h 15h 20h

Hours per week on Slack/chat 5 hrs

0h 5h 10h 15h 20h

Hours per week in meetings 6 hrs

0h 5h 10h 15h 20h

Your results

Adjust the sliders and hit calculate to see the cost of communication for your team.

total annual communication cost

cost per employee / year

total hours / week across team

most expensive channel

potential annual savings

Cost breakdown by channel

Slack/Chat

Meetings

Cost per interaction

-- --

Slack/Chat

-- --

Meetings

-- --

Projected savings with AI email management

Email time reduced by 60% with Unboxd

Annual team savings --

Hours reclaimed / week / person --

Annual team savings (hours) --

Email is your biggest communication cost. Let AI handle the reading so your team focuses on work that actually matters.

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The real cost of workplace communication

How much does workplace communication cost?

The average knowledge worker spends 19 hours per week on email, Slack, and meetings combined. For a team of 10 at $50/hr, that's nearly $500,000 per year spent on communication alone. The cost varies by channel, with email and meetings typically consuming the largest share of the budget.

Which communication channel is most expensive?

Meetings are typically the most expensive per-interaction due to their length and multi-person nature, but email's sheer volume makes it the largest total cost for most teams. Slack falls in between, with high message volume but shorter per-message time investment. The balance depends on your team's habits.

How can AI reduce communication costs?

AI email tools like Unboxd read, categorize, and summarize emails automatically. Instead of spending 8 hours per week on email, employees spend 20 minutes reviewing an AI briefing with only action items and highlights. This can reduce email communication costs by 60% or more, making a significant dent in your team's total communication spend.

How is the communication ROI calculated?

We multiply the hours spent on each channel (email, Slack/chat, meetings) by your team's hourly rate across 50 working weeks to calculate the annual cost of each communication method. This gives a clear picture of where your communication budget goes and helps identify the biggest opportunities for savings.

How much does your team spend on communication?

The real cost of workplace communication

How much does workplace communication cost?

Which communication channel is most expensive?

How can AI reduce communication costs?

How is the communication ROI calculated?

Let AI handle the email reading