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When a business gets busier, the default response is to hire. Sometimes that is right. But often the new person is mostly hired to do repetitive tasks such as data entry, scheduling, follow-ups and report building, which are the jobs people tend to find least rewarding.
This article walks through how to separate the work that needs a human from the work that does not, and how to decide what to automate before you open a job listing.
Watch the 30-second walkthrough on our YouTube channel @Skynetlabs2k25.
What does a hire really cost before it pays off?
The salary is only part of it. Recruiting costs money or time, training takes weeks or months, and during that period the new person is learning while someone else is teaching. You also take on management time, equipment, software and the risk that the person leaves.
Then there is the question of what the person will actually do. If a large part of the role is copying data between systems, sending reminders and building reports, you are paying someone capable to do work that follows fixed patterns. People in those roles often burn out or leave, and you start again.
None of this means you should avoid hiring. It means you should know which part of the job is human and which is routine before you decide.
How the automation works, step by step
- List the tasks in the role. Write down every task the hire would do in a week and roughly how long each takes. Be specific, for example "enter invoices" rather than "admin".
- Sort them into two groups. Mark each task as routine (same steps every time) or judgement (needs creativity, empathy or negotiation). In many small business roles a large share is routine.
- Automate the routine group first. Take the most repetitive tasks and build automations for them: data entry from emails, scheduling, follow-ups, reports. Start with the one that costs the most hours.
- Keep a person on exceptions. Automations flag unusual cases to a human. That person now spends time on the cases that need judgement.
- Re-evaluate the hire. With the routine work covered, you may find you need a smaller role, a different role, or no new hire yet.
| Step | What triggers it | Who stays in control |
|---|---|---|
| Routine tasks | Same steps every time | Automate |
| Exceptions | Unusual or unclear cases | Human reviews |
| Relationships and creative work | Needs judgement or empathy | Human leads |
| Quality checks | Sampled regularly | Human oversight |
What you need to get started
- An honest list of what your team spends time on each week.
- Somebody who can measure hours, even roughly, for the most repetitive tasks.
- A willingness to document the steps of a task before automating it.
- A plan for what your team will do with the time that comes back.
Honest limits
The video speaks of automation handling the repetitive 70% of a role. That is a framing, not a promise. The share depends entirely on the job, and some roles have far less routine work than others.
Automation is not free. Building, monitoring and updating workflows takes effort, and tools and prices change. Count that against the cost of a hire when you compare.
Be open with your team. The point is to remove tedious work, not to surprise people. Staff who understand that tend to help improve the automations rather than resist them.
Frequently asked questions
Does automation mean I should not hire at all?
No. Many roles need people and many businesses should hire. The idea is to avoid hiring someone mainly to do work that follows fixed rules, and to hire for judgement and relationships instead.
What should I automate first?
Pick the task that is repeated most often, follows clear steps and is easy to check. Common starters are data entry, scheduling, follow-ups and reporting.
What happens to my existing team?
In a good project their time shifts toward customer-facing and creative work. Talk to them early and ask which tasks they would gladly hand over.
How do I compare automation cost with a hire?
Compare the full hire cost for a year against the build and running cost of the automations, and include the time you spend maintaining them.
Your next step
Take the job description you were about to post and sort every line into routine or judgement. Send us the routine list and we can tell you which items are good candidates for automation before you commit to a salary.
Want this built around your own tools? Get in touch through skynetjoe.com and tell us which job you want off your plate first.
Prefer to hire through a marketplace? SkynetLabs is a Top Rated agency on Fiverr: https://www.fiverr.com/agencies/skynetjoellc