What does a 20-minute daily task really cost a year?
By Savior · 02 Nov 2026 · Updated 06 Nov 2026
The short answer
Twenty minutes every working day adds up to about 87 hours a year: 20 minutes, five days a week, 52 weeks. If an hour of that person's time costs you £25, that's around £2,170 a year, for one small job nobody thinks of as expensive.
The sum
20 minutes × 5 days × 52 weeks = 5,200 minutes, or about 87 hours a year. That's more than two full working weeks.
What it costs depends on whose time it is. Use what an hour of their time costs you, which is their pay plus on-costs such as employer National Insurance and pension:
- At £15 an hour: about £1,300 a year
- At £25 an hour: about £2,170 a year
- At £40 an hour: about £3,470 a year
And it's rarely just one task. Three of them come to about 260 hours a year, which is more than six working weeks.
Why small tasks slip under the radar
Nobody budgets for 20 minutes. It's copying an order into a spreadsheet, chasing a payment, sending the same confirmation email, checking one system against another. Each one feels too small to fix, so they stay.
Which ones are worth automating
The good candidates have the same shape:
- They happen on a schedule, or every time something else happens (a booking, an order, an invoice)
- The steps are the same each time
- Information moves from one place to another: an inbox, a form, a spreadsheet, an accounting tool
When it isn't worth it
If a task changes every time, needs judgement at every step, or only happens a few times a year, automating it can cost more than it saves. We'll say so on the call.
What it would cost to fix
Our Starter automation is £249, fixed: one workflow, one problem solved, delivered in 3 to 5 days. At £25 an hour, a 20-minute daily task costs that in about six weeks.
To try your own numbers, use the ROI calculator. Every price we charge is on the pricing page.