Admin time calculator

How many hours, and how much money, does admin really cost your business each year? Enter rough numbers. Nothing you type leaves your browser.

People doing adminIncluding you

Cost of an hour (£)Your hourly rate, or wage plus overheads

Hours per person, per week

Invoicing and chasing paymentsRaising invoices, sending reminders, matching payments

Payroll, rotas and HR paperworkPay runs, holiday requests, contracts, new starters

Receipts and expensesCollecting receipts, expense claims, reconciling cards

Bookkeeping and tax prepCategorising transactions, VAT, getting ready for year-end

Repetitive emails, quotes and reportsSame-shape emails, quotes, weekly reports, data entry

Re-keying data between toolsCopying the same info between apps and spreadsheets

How the numbers work

Yearly hours = hours per person per week × people × 46 working weeks (52 minus holidays and bank holidays). Cost = yearly hours × your hourly cost. The “cut by 40%” figure is an illustration, not a promise: how much you save depends on the task and the fix.

If you are not sure of the hourly cost, use what you would pay someone else to do the work, or your own charge-out rate. For staff, wage plus around 20 to 30% for employer costs is a reasonable starting point.

What to do with the result

Start with the biggest time sink only. Fixing one thing properly beats tinkering with five.
Check whether the task needs a tool (software), a process (a template or checklist) or a person.
Re-run the calculator in a month to see what changed.