Guides · Office automation

Hire another office person, or automate? A cost calculator

Updated October 5, 2026 · Miguel Gutierrez, Co-Founder, Peekgentic (Dallas, TX)

Short answer: if most of the new role is typing orders, POs or invoices into a system, automating that work usually costs less than the hire and scales with volume. A full-time office hire costs the salary plus benefits, taxes and training; automation costs a build and a monthly fee. Use the calculator below with your own numbers.

Calculator

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Salary of the role you'd hire ($/year) Benefits, taxes, overhead (% of salary) Share of the job that is typing / data entry (%) Time saved on that typing with automation (%)

What goes into each side

	Hire another person	Automate the typing
Upfront	Recruiting time, training, ramp-up	A build to fit your desk and systems
Ongoing	Salary + benefits + taxes, every year	A monthly fee
When volume grows	Another hire	Same setup handles more
When someone leaves	Knowledge walks out with them	The rules live in the system
Control	Person does the work	Software drafts, a person approves every step

Real example: Atlantic Food Bars. A Dallas-area manufacturer of hot and cold food equipment for national grocery chains, with 8 people in the office and 2 plants, handling dozens of orders a day. The office was about to hire another person (a $60,000+ a year seat) to keep up. Instead, software now reads each order email and fills out the work, and the team checks it in about a tenth of the time. Read the case study →

When hiring is still the right call

The role is mostly talking to customers, selling or solving unusual problems.
Orders arrive in ways no system can read (handwritten, verbal only).
Volume is tiny: a few items a week isn't worth automating.

FAQ

How much does a new office hire really cost?

Salary plus benefits, payroll taxes, equipment, recruiting and training. Many companies use 20 to 30 percent on top of salary as a rule of thumb; use your own numbers in the calculator.

How is automation priced?

Peekgentic prices against the savings: a fixed-fee desk audit first, then a program priced so the first year's savings exceed what you pay.

Is there a real example?

Atlantic Food Bars, a Dallas-area manufacturer with 8 office staff and 2 plants, avoided a $60,000+ hire by automating order entry; orders are now checked in about a tenth of the time.

Want this for your desk?

Peekgentic is a Dallas firm. We'll come watch how your desk works for 20 minutes and tell you straight whether it's worth automating.

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