When to hire an executive assistant: signs and the math

Hire an executive assistant when the hours they free are worth more than they cost. Say your time is worth $200 an hour and help costs about $36 to $65 an hour. Handing over 10 hours a week then pays for itself, as long as you use those hours for work that earns.

The signs

• Scheduling and email take a large share of your working day, most days.
• You find out about missed follow-ups from annoyed clients.
• You turn down paid work, or delay sales calls, because your week is full of admin.
• You book your own travel and chase your own receipts.
• You walk into meetings without having read the background.
• You keep a list of admin tasks that never gets shorter.
• Your weekly review shows the same tasks moving forward week after week.

One sign alone is normal for a busy owner. Three or more, every week, is a pattern.

The math

You need two numbers: what an hour of your time is worth, and what an hour of help costs.

Your hourly value

Use what an hour of your best work earns, not what you pay yourself.

• If you bill by the hour, start from your billable rate.
• If you sell projects, divide a typical project fee by the hours you spend on it.
• If you run a team, use the revenue an extra hour of sales or client work would bring in.

Their hourly cost

As of October 2026, in US dollars:

• In-house, full-time. The BLS median wage for executive assistants is $36.82 an hour, per BLS data on O*NET for May 2025. Benefits come on top. In the BLS employer cost survey for June 2026, office and administrative jobs carried $11.51 of benefits for every $25.22 of wages. At that ratio, the median assistant costs about $54 an hour in total.
• US agency. Time etc works out to $36 to $39 an hour on its published plans, and Boldly to $65 an hour.
• Freelance, executive level. Upwork's rate page lists $38 to $50 or more an hour for experienced North American executive assistants.

Put them together

Here is a hypothetical example.

1. You bill $200 an hour.
2. An assistant could take over 10 hours a week of email, scheduling and admin.
3. Those 10 hours are worth $2,000 a week of your time.
4. At published US agency rates of $36 to $65 an hour, the same 10 hours cost $360 to $650.

The gap is large. It only becomes real if you fill the freed hours with work that earns or grows the business: client work, sales, hiring, product. If the hours go to more email, the math does not hold.

A simple rule: hire when your hourly value is at least two to three times the assistant's hourly cost, and you have a clear plan for the hours you get back. Treat that ratio as a starting point, not a law.

When it is not time yet

• You cannot name the tasks you would hand over.
• Your work is mostly creative or client-facing, and admin is a small part.
• You would spend the freed hours on more admin.
• Cash flow is tight, and the assistant would add pressure you cannot carry for a few months.
• You are not ready to give access to your inbox and calendar.

If the problem is the last one, start smaller: give scheduling only, then add email after a month.

Part-time or full-time

Start part-time if you are not sure. Agencies publish plans from 10 hours a month, such as Time etc at $390 for 10 hours. You learn what to hand over, and you can grow the plan.

Go full-time when the work fills most of a working week and needs someone who knows your business deeply. The full cost of a full-time hire includes salary, benefits, payroll taxes, tools and the cost of hiring. Payroll tax rules are on the IRS site, such as Topic 751 for Social Security and Medicare. Check your plan with an accountant, since rules differ by state.

What to hand over first

Start with tasks that are frequent, easy to check and low risk.

• Scheduling: booking, moving and confirming meetings.
• Inbox sorting: labels, archiving, and a daily list of what needs you.
• Travel: flights, hotels and one itinerary.
• Expenses: receipts, reports and reimbursements.
• Meeting prep for routine meetings: agenda and last notes.
• Follow-ups: tracking what others owe you.

Keep for later: replies to key clients, anything with money above a set limit, and decisions about pricing or people.

A first-week plan

Day 1. Give calendar access (make changes and see event details) and delegate access to email. Walk through your how-I-work page.

Day 2. They book and move all meetings for the next two weeks. You review at the end of the day.

Day 3. They sort the inbox and send you one list of what needs you. You reply to that list only.

Day 4. They take one task end to end: a trip, an expense report or a meeting brief.

Day 5. A 30-minute review: what worked, what was unclear, which rules to write down.

Next steps

For the full cost of an in-house hire, use the BLS and IRS figures above with your accountant. To decide what to hand over and how, read how to delegate tasks and time management for business owners. To track what the hours turn into, keep a weekly review. When you are ready to post the role, see how to write a job description.