Shopify’s CFO explains how its new meeting cost calculator works, and how it will cut 474,000 events in 2023: ‘Time is money’

“This meeting could have been an email,” is an expression that I’d argue has crossed everyone’s mind at least once. But Shopify, a Canadian e-commerce company, has implemented a meeting cost calculator to curb pointless group meetings. They’re all about clearing the calendar. 

“Time is money, and it should be spent on helping our merchants succeed and not on unnecessary meetings,” according to Shopify CFO Jeff Hoffmeister. 

The new tool is part of the company’s year-long drive to reduce unnecessary gatherings. It works like a calculator that’s embedded in an employees’ calendar app. It estimates the price tag of any meeting that has three or more people. Then it comes up with a price estimate by factoring in the average compensation data across roles and departments, with the amount of people attending, and meeting length. The program was built by the chief operating officer Kaz Nejatian.

The average cost of a 30-minute meeting with three employees can run from $700 up to $1,600, Shopify found. But if there’s an exec in the meeting, you’re looking at $2,000 and more.

Shopify sent me an example of a calendar invite for a one-hour meeting, with seven people, including two C-suite execs—Kaz and Tobi Lütke, the CEO and founder. The estimated meeting cost is $2,115. 

At the beginning of the year, Shopify implemented a “Chaos monkey” meeting policy, where meetings were not banned outright, but employees were told to cancel all recurring meetings involving more than three people. And if they’re prompted to do so, the meeting cost calculator is now a deterrent. 

When Shopify removed 12,000 meetings at the start of the new year, they projected they would cut 322,000 hours and 474,000 discrete events for all of 2023, according to the company. 

How is the meeting initiative panning out in the finance organization? As the CFO, Hoffmeister shared his perspective. 

This conversation has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Fortune: The CFO has increasingly become more collaborative with the organization. But does this calendar initiative mean that you are in fewer meetings?

Yes, I’ve seen the number of meetings on my calendar decrease. At the start of 2023, we canceled 12,000 calendar series and events and reinstated ‘no meeting Wednesdays.’ The average time per person spent in meetings is down 14% when comparing the first five months of last year with the first five months of this year. Time spent in meetings on Wednesday is down about 26% per person. 

The new tool is part of the company’s year-long drive to reduce unnecessary gatherings. From a CFO’s perspective, how does this enhance value creation for the company?

After we unleashed Chaos Monkey in January, we knew we would have to keep pushing the boundaries to keep unnecessary meetings off the calendar. The Shopify Meeting Cost Calculator is meant to help our teams approach meetings intentionally, so they can stay focused on the crafting. 

Are you keeping finance meetings to less than three people? 

There is no hard and fast rule for the number of people included in meetings. The calculator is meant to help all of our teams approach meetings intentionally. This is the next step on our journey of building the right systems and enabling more productive outputs to benefit our merchants.  

For the broader calendar campaign, what is Shopify doing regarding best practices for management and senior leadership?

To best serve the millions of merchants that use our platform, our people need focus, time, and attention—harnessing these resources takes intentional effort, including habit and the right systems. We’re always considering new strategies and methods to reinforce all of the changes and ensure people at all levels continue to have uninterrupted time. We believe that agility and speed are skills that we as a company should encourage and hone, and, as such, takes practice and reinforcement.

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Have a good weekend.

Sheryl Estrada
sheryl.estrada@fortune.com

Big deal

ATTOM’s Midyear 2023 U.S. Foreclosure Market Report found that in the first half of the year, there were a total of 185,580 properties with foreclosure filings such as default notices, scheduled auctions, or bank repossessions. That amount is a 13% increase from the same time period a year ago, and up 185% from the same time in 2021, according to the report. “Although overall foreclosure activity remains below historical norms, the notable surge in foreclosure starts indicates that we may continue to see a rise in foreclosure activity in the coming years," Rob Barber, CEO of ATTOM, said in a statement.

Going deeper

Here are a few Fortune weekend reads:

"Now could be the worst time to buy Apple stock. Yes, really—just look at Robert Shiller’s famous CAPE metric" by Shawn Tully

"Big Finance is taking over Big Sports. From Josh Harris to Steve Cohen to David Blitzer, here are the 120 ‘alt’ power players entering the field of play" by Luisa Beltran

"The ‘money doctor’ says forget the ‘propaganda’—inflation is ‘history’" by Will Daniel

"A Harvard genetics professor who only sleeps 6 hours a night and doesn’t exercise every day swears 3 habits helped reverse his biological age by a decade" by Alexa Mikhail

Leaderboard

Marie-Jose David was named CFO at Oatly Group AB (Nasdaq: OTLY), an oat drink company, effective Oct. 1. David succeeds Christian Hanke, who has served as CFO since 2020. Hanke has chosen to step down from the company and will continue to serve as CFO through Sept. 30. David most recently served as CFO at Mars Veterinary Health International, a division of Mars Petcare. Before Mars, she was CFO Americas for Pandora and VP of finance for a professional product division unit at L’Oréal USA.

Scott Lewis was named CFO at HanesBrands (NYSE: HBI), a global marketer of branded everyday apparel, effective immediately. Lewis will also continue in his role as chief accounting officer, a position he has held since 2015. Lewis is a 17-year veteran of HanesBrands. He served as interim CFO from March 2023 to the present, and also from January 2020 through April 2021. 

J.P. Towner, CFO at Dollarama Inc. (TSX: DOL), intends to step down from his position in the coming months to pursue another career opportunity. Towner will remain in his role through the announcement and filing of the corporation's Q2 FY2024 results. The corporation has started a formal search process for a new CFO.

Jonathan Maroko was named interim CFO at Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (Nasdaq: FFIE), an electric mobility ecosystem company, effective July 24. Maroko is replacing Yun Han, who will continue in her role as the company’s chief accounting officer. Before joining Faraday Future, Maroko served as external CFO at several companies including Gladstein Neandross & Associates, Willow, Lifeforce A-Frame Brands, Kwell Labs, and Arcadia Earth. 

Nelson Chai, CFO at Uber Technologies Inc., informed Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi of his intentions to step down from his position, Bloomberg reported, citing people familiar with the matter. A decision on the timing of his departure hasn't been made, according to the report. Chai joined Uber as CFO in 2018 and he led the company through its IPO a year later.

Tim Stone, named CFO at GlobalFoundries (Nasdaq: GFS), a chip maker, in May 2023, will not assume his duties as CFO. Stone was set to take over for David Reeder, but Stone departed the company July 11. Reeder will now remain as CFO through the end of the year to support the selection of a new finance chief. Stone has 20 years of experience building Amazon’s global business in senior finance roles, including CFO for the AWS and Devices businesses as well as the CFO for public companies Ford Motor and Snap.

Overheard

"The strong trees and the strong vegetation survive, and all the brush gets cleared out. And it actually allows for healthy regrowth afterwards.”

—Former Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer said at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference this week in Deer Valley, Utah, that she believes the tech business is about to be set ablaze by A.I., like a forest torched by a wildfire, Fortune reported. However, Mayer, who is now the CEO of consumer A.I. startup Sunshine, also pointed out as with the cycles of nature that affect the landscape, she thinks the tech industry will ultimately come out stronger.