How much is manual work costing your business?
Vague frustration is easy to ignore; a number isn't. Put in the hours your team spends on a repetitive task, how many people do it, and what an hour costs, and you'll see the annual figure. That number is the budget any automation has to beat — and it's usually higher than owners expect.
Put your numbers in.
Time only — the real cost, with errors and delay, is higher.
A rough guide on your own numbers — time only. Add the cost of errors, delay and the work people can't get to, and the real figure is higher.
The bar a build has to clear.
If a manual task costs £34k a year and a build to remove it costs £30k once, the maths is obvious. The calculator turns a nagging sense that 'we waste too much time on this' into a figure you can act on — and a figure you can set any quote against. The honest test of automation is simply whether it beats this number.
Common questions.
How do I calculate the cost of manual work?
Multiply the hours a week spent on the task by the number of people doing it, by the loaded cost per hour, by 52. That gives the annual cost in time — add errors and delay for the true figure.
What counts as the cost of manual work?
The wages of the time spent, plus the errors manual work causes, the delay it adds, and the higher-value work people can't get to because they're doing it. The time figure is the floor, not the ceiling.
How do I know if automating it is worth it?
Compare the annual cost of the manual work to the one-time build cost plus maintenance. If a build that removes it costs less than a year or two of the manual work, it usually pays.
Why is the real cost higher than just the hours?
Because manual work also causes errors that cost to fix, delays decisions and delivery, and crowds out higher-value work. The time calculation is the visible part; the rest is real but harder to see.
What loaded cost per hour should I use?
Use the fully-loaded cost — salary plus overheads — not just the wage, so the figure reflects what the person actually costs the business per hour.
What do I do with the number?
Set it against the cost of a build that removes the work. If the build beats the annual cost comfortably, it's worth scoping. If not, leave it — the number tells you honestly.
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Related questions
Turn the frustration into a number.
Book a call — tell us the task and we'll work out what it really costs and whether a build beats it.