What manual admin is actually costing you
The arithmetic, with real numbers. Updated October 2026.
Ten hours a week of manual admin at €35 an hour costs an Irish business about €10,900 a year, which is 7.8 working weeks handed to work a machine could do. Most owners have never done this sum, which is why the leak persists.
Below is the same calculation across the ranges we see most often. It assumes 48 working weeks and that roughly 65 per cent of repetitive admin is genuinely automatable, which is our default and matches what we usually find.
Annual cost of manual admin
| Hours per week | Cost per hour | Annual cost | Time lost |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 hours | €30 | €4,700 | 3.9 weeks |
| 5 hours | €45 | €7,000 | 3.9 weeks |
| 10 hours | €30 | €9,350 | 7.8 weeks |
| 10 hours | €45 | €14,050 | 7.8 weeks |
| 15 hours | €30 | €14,050 | 11.7 weeks |
| 15 hours | €45 | €21,050 | 11.7 weeks |
| 20 hours | €45 | €28,100 | 15.6 weeks |
48 working weeks, 65 per cent automatable. Run your own numbers.
Where it usually hides
Retyping the same details between two systems that do not talk. Chasing information by email. Building the same report every month. Scheduling, confirming and rescheduling. Copying invoice data from one place to another.
None of it feels like a crisis on any given Tuesday. It is only visible annually, which is the whole problem.
Common questions
How is this calculated?
Hours a week on manual admin, multiplied by 48 working weeks, multiplied by what an hour of that person's time costs, with 65 per cent treated as realistically automatable. The working-weeks figure is the saved hours divided by a 40 hour week.
Is 65 per cent realistic?
It is our default because it matches what we usually find: most repetitive admin is rule-based and automatable, and a stubborn third needs a human. Set it lower if you want a conservative number. The calculator lets you.
What does it cost to automate?
One workflow starts around €750, a connected system around €2,500. Against a €9,000 a year leak, the first one usually pays for itself inside a quarter. Against a €2,000 leak it may not be worth doing, and we will say so.
Use these numbers
Free to quote and republish under CC BY 4.0, with attribution. Every figure here is also available as open JSON and CSV.
Mizen Studio, cost of manual admin in Ireland 2026. https://mizenstudio.com/data/
Raw data: manual admin cost
Worth a conversation?
Tell us where the hours go. If the honest answer is to simplify the process rather than automate it, we will say that.
- A reply within one working day
- Fixed price, agreed in writing
- No obligation, and no hard sell