AI or an administrator for the job you are about to advertise
If the job you are advertising is mostly people, conversation and judgement, hire. If it is mostly keying, checking and chasing, it may not need a hire at all. An administrator, full or part time, can turn a hand to whatever the day brings. An AI worker from us takes one defined, repeatable role in your systems, managed for you.
Choose an administrator when
Much of the job is the front desk, visitors or calls that need a conversation, not a message taken.
The work changes from day to day and cannot be written down as steps.
You want someone in the room who can cover for colleagues and pick up whatever comes next.
Choose AI staff when
Most of the job is repeatable work in your systems, such as data entry, checks, reminders and routine updates.
The volume rises and falls, and a full-time salary would pay for quiet weeks.
You have nobody spare to recruit, train and supervise a new starter.
What each one costs and does
Five questions asked of both. The salaries are the ONS 2025 medians for full-time and part-time staff in its 'other administrative occupations' group, and the on-costs use GOV.UK's rates for 2026 to 2027.
What it costs
£32,450 a year
The ONS median of £28,294 plus employer National Insurance and minimum pension. The part-time figure is £14,154. Recruitment, holiday cover and training come on top.
A build fee, then a monthly fee
A build fee, then a monthly fee for the role, not a salary and its on-costs. Our starting price is on the homepage.
Getting started
Advertise, interview, train
A median of £2,000 to recruit (CIPD, 2026), then often the recruit's notice period and the weeks before they are up to speed.
Scoped, then built
The role is agreed with you in writing first. Building and testing it then takes weeks.
What it can do
Almost anything
Visitors, the calls that need a conversation, favours for colleagues and the judgement about what matters this week.
One defined role
The part of the job that follows rules: chasing, data entry, checks and routine updates.
Who manages it
You do
Training, supervision, appraisals, and cover for 5.6 weeks of paid holiday and any sickness.
We do
Keeping it running, and changing it when your systems change, is our job. A named person in your business approves its work.
When the work grows
Another hire
One person has one working week. More work than that means overtime or a second salary.
The same role
More of the same work stays inside the role. A new kind of work is a new role, scoped the same way.
Weighing up a hire against an Agent Resource?
See what an AI worker costs to build and run for this exact role.
Where an administrator wins
A good administrator does things no written job description holds. They greet the visitor at the door, talk a supplier round on the phone and notice that a client sounded unhappy. They can be handed something new on a Tuesday afternoon and work it out. AI staff from us do one role agreed in advance.
A person also commits the business in ways an agent should not: agreeing a price, a refund or a date. If the job you are about to advertise is mostly that kind of work, hire the person. If the phone and the clients fill twenty hours a week, twenty hours of a good part-timer may be the best value.
Where AI staff win
Write the job down as a list of tasks and how often each happens. Where most of the list is keying, checking and chasing, a salary buys a week of work that follows rules. An Agent Resource, the AI equivalent of that member of staff, takes that part on as a managed service, not an employment, so there is nobody to recruit, train or cover.
The role is written down, so the method does not leave when a person does. Often the answer is both: AI staff for the process work, and a smaller, part-time or more senior hire for the rest. The arithmetic is in what it costs to hire an administrator.
Questions owners ask
Should I hire an administrator or use AI?
List the job's tasks. AI staff can take on the repeatable keying, checking and chasing. The front desk, the conversations and the judgement calls stay with a person. AI staff from us can stand in for the next hire, or free the administrator you have for the work that needs a person.
What does an administrator really cost?
The ONS median full-time salary in its 'other administrative occupations' group was £28,294 in 2025. Employer National Insurance and the minimum pension add £4,156 at 2026 to 2027 rates, which makes £32,450 a year before recruitment, holiday cover, training and equipment.
What does a part-time administrator cost?
The ONS part-time median in this group was £12,789 in 2025; employer National Insurance and minimum pension make £14,154 a year, before any Employment Allowance. Your figure depends on your hours and rate. GOV.UK says part-timers have much the same rights as full-timers. Work outside their hours waits, and AI staff can share the job.
Can AI staff answer the phone for us?
Most roles work in writing: email, messages and the records in your systems. Answering calls live is a separate role, set up with you as a voice line. A job that is mostly live conversation, or people at the door, needs a person.
An Agent Resource compared with
A virtual assistant
Varied, personal admin suits a VA paid by the hour; the same process run every day suits an Agent Resource.
An Agent Resource compared with
Outsourcing or offshoring
When a whole function needs people, outsource it; an Agent Resource takes one repeatable process that follows rules.
An Agent Resource compared with
A temp
Book a temp for next week's gap or a job that needs a person. Hand never-ending admin to an Agent Resource.