# Is this automation worth doing?

Source: https://leverops.co/tools/automation-roi-calculator/
Last updated: 2026-10-11

Use one workflow at a time. Estimate current employee hours per week, loaded hourly cost, the percentage of time the change could remove, one-time implementation cost, and monthly technology cost.

## How the estimate works

Current annual process cost = weekly hours × 52 × loaded hourly cost. Annual capacity value = current annual cost × expected time reduction. Estimated future labor effort is the remaining hours at the same cost. First-year net benefit subtracts implementation and twelve months of technology cost from capacity value. Payback compares the one-time cost with monthly net capacity value after technology cost.

**Important:** The output is an estimate of capacity value, not guaranteed cash savings or revenue. The result excludes training, maintenance, error handling, and the value of work the team does with recovered time. Include those when making a real decision. If the process itself is broken, [fix the process first](/services/process-improvement/).

See [what to automate first](/resources/what-to-automate-first/) or [how much automation costs](/resources/workflow-automation-cost/) for context.