20% less time
20% less time$8,667
annual value of time released
- Cost left in the work
- $34,667
- Team hours released each month
- 14.4 hours
Free calculator · AI project ROI
Cost of Inaction Calculator
What is manual work costing you? Adjust four numbers to see the annual cost and what less time on the task could mean for your team.
Free to use. No login needed.
Adjust four numbers to estimate the cost of manual work. No login or email needed.
Inputs
Your back-of-the-napkin estimate
Your result
Example estimate
Based on the numbers currently in the calculator.
Estimated annual cost of this work
$43,333
Based on the numbers entered in AUD. Move a slider and watch the estimate change. This is an illustrative work-cost estimate, not a promise about savings or jobs.
Monthly team time
72.2 hours
16.7 hours each week.
Annual team time
866.7 hours
Before any process or automation change.
Make the size of the work visible
How much team time is tied up?
One full-time role is about 2,000 work hours a year
Workload tied up now
0.4 full-time role equivalent
866.7 hours each year before a change.
Workload left after 40% less time
0.3 full-time role equivalent
If the base scenario proved true, about 0.2 full-time role's worth of capacity could be released.
Illustrative scenarios
What if the work took less time?
Test these possibilities against observed work. Released time is capacity, not cash savings; implementation and running costs are excluded.
40% less time
40% less time$17,333
annual value of time released
- Cost left in the work
- $26,000
- Team hours released each month
- 28.9 hours
60% less time
60% less time$26,000
annual value of time released
- Cost left in the work
- $17,333
- Team hours released each month
- 43.3 hours
What this assumes
- The estimate uses 52 working weeks per year and the inputs supplied on this page.
- The result is an illustrative operational estimate, not financial advice or a guaranteed outcome.
- Scenario savings describe time-cost reduction only. They do not assume revenue growth or headcount reduction.
- The 40% base scenario is used when no expected time reduction is supplied; conservative and upside scenarios are set 20 percentage points either side within a sensible range.
- Payback is withheld until one-off investment, annual automation cost and expected time reduction are all supplied and reviewed.
Next question
Would this be worth changing?
Bring these numbers to a conversation about AI implementation costs, realistic benefits and payback.
Start your AI project ROI calculation with the cost of today's work
Before investing in AI automation, establish a baseline. This calculator estimates annual labour cost from how often a task happens, the active time it takes and the hourly cost of the people doing it. The 20%, 40% and 60% time-reduction scenarios help you explore the potential benefit.
How is the cost calculated?
Weekly occurrences × active minutes per contributor × contributors per occurrence ÷ 60 × hourly cost × 52 weeks. For 20 tasks a week, 10 minutes each, one contributor and AUD $50 an hour, the annual labour cost is about $8,667.
Is this the return on an AI investment?
It is the starting point. AI project ROI also needs implementation costs, ongoing software costs and benefits you can actually realise. For a chosen period, ROI is realised benefits minus total project costs, divided by total project costs. This calculator does not assume those costs or give a payback date.
Does all of this cost disappear with automation?
No. The headline is the cost of continuing the current work. Some work remains necessary, and AI outputs may need checking. Time released creates capacity; it only becomes cash savings when spending actually falls.
How do I turn the estimate into a business case?
Observe the task, test a realistic time reduction and include checking and rework. Compare that benefit with the full cost of the change. Fractional Chief AI Officer support can help you assess AI project ROI and turn the decision into delivery.