AI vs. Human Hiring Costs
How Much Cheaper Is It to Hire AI vs. Human?
Everyone’s talking about AI replacing jobs. Let’s calculate using €, an average customer support job, and data for a developed European country like Poland.
Human Employee Costs
Annual cost for a customer support worker: ~€23,000–€25,000 gross
Gross Salary: ~€18,000
Employer Social Security (ZUS) & taxes: ~€4,000
Office space & equipment: ~€1,600
Private health insurance: ~€1,200
A hard-working employee handles 60–70 calls/day, works 249 days/year (1,992 hours out of 8,760).
AI Costs
Annual cost of an AI bot: ~€29,000 (including initial investment)
One-time cost for a custom-built AI phone system: €5,000–€10,000 (amortized over 3 years: ~€2,500/year)
Monthly maintenance, bug fixes, and improvements: €500–€2,000
4.23x
Increased Availability
€0.42/call
vs. €1.48/call for a human
70,000
Increase in call capacity
Benefits of AI
No office space or equipment costs
No health insurance or paid leave (operates 24/7)
Tax-deductible costs (unlike salaries)
Human works 1,992 hours/year (22.74% of 8,760 hours)
AI - 8,424 hours/year (96.16% of 8,760 hours) - 4.23x more availability
If the AI handles the same call volume, it uses only 19.2% of its capacity and can handle more calls without extra fixed costs.
AI handles multiple calls simultaneously
Eliminates human downtime (sick days, breaks)
Requires occasional retraining or updates but is faster than training new employees
Less emotional and empathetic? Yes, but far more productive.
