AI & Automation
Time to Hire vs. Automate
Compare the estimated first-year costs, usable workload capacity, cost per productive hour and time to capacity for a hire and an automation.
Enter assumptions for the workload, employee and automation. Estimates run locally and are not saved.
Compare estimated hiring and automation costs, capacity and time-to-capacity.
Example: hiring versus automating
For 40 workload hours per week and 20 additional hours of capacity needed, a $60,000 salary with 10% payroll burden, $6,000 in benefits, $6,000 in hiring costs, and 30 productive hours per week gives a $78,000 first-year hiring cost. Automating 50% of the workload with two oversight hours, $5,000 implementation, $250 monthly software and $1,000 annual support gives 18 net hours per week and a $9,000 first-year cost. The estimates do not determine which option is right for the business.
About this calculator
Hiring cost and capacity
Ongoing employee cost includes salary, employer payroll burden, annual benefits and other annual employee costs. First-year hiring cost adds recruiting, equipment and training. Productive capacity is the hours per week you estimate the employee can devote to this workload.
Automation cost and capacity
Automation releases workload hours based on the automation percentage, less ongoing human oversight. Annual operating cost includes monthly software and AI costs plus annual maintenance. If oversight exceeds automated hours, released capacity is shown as zero.
Cost comparison is not a recommendation
Hiring and automation are not necessarily substitutes. In many cases the strongest approach combines people with automation. Estimates compare cost, capacity and timing; they do not account for judgment, customer interaction, change management, technical risk, culture, flexibility or legal considerations.
Capacity value
Optional capacity-value amounts are estimates of economic value, not guaranteed cash savings.
Estimates use the workload, employment and automation assumptions entered. They do not account for every business, workforce, culture, change-management or technical consideration and are not a recommendation to hire or automate.