The $10K/Month Mistake: Why Your Executive Assistant Is Actually Costing You Money
You hired an executive assistant to save time. Instead, you're spending 5 hours a week managing them, they're constantly asking for direction, and somehow your inbox is still a disaster. Sound familiar?
Here's the uncomfortable truth: Your EA isn't the problem. The absence of operational systems is.
The Hidden Cost of Task-Based Support
Most companies hire EAs the same way they'd hire any other role: write a job description, conduct interviews, onboard someone, and hope they "figure it out."
But here's what actually happens:
Week 1-4: Honeymoon phase. Your EA is learning, you're optimistic, and you're still doing most of the work yourself.
Month 2-3: Frustration sets in. They keep interrupting you for approvals. Simple tasks take multiple back-and-forths. You're wondering if this was worth it.
Month 6: You've accepted mediocrity. They handle basic calendar management and email screening, but you're still the operational bottleneck.
The math: If you're spending 5 hours weekly managing your EA, and your time is worth $500/hour, that's $10,000/month in invisible overhead — and that's before their salary.
Why Traditional EA Hiring Fails
The problem isn't talent. The problem is you hired a person when you needed a system.
Think about it: When you bring on an EA without documented workflows, clear decision-making frameworks, and standardized processes, you're essentially paying someone to read your mind. That's not delegation — that's dependency.
What most EAs get on day one:
✅ Access to your calendar
✅ Login to your email
✅ A vague job description
What they actually need:
❌ Decision-making authority matrix
❌ Standard operating procedures for recurring tasks
❌ Communication protocols
❌ Workflow automation documentation
❌ Clear success metrics
Without these, even the best EA becomes an expensive message relay.
The Systems-First Alternative
Here's how high-performing CEOs approach executive support differently:
1. They Document Before They Delegate
Before hiring, they map out:
What decisions can be made without their input
Which tasks follow repeatable patterns
Where bottlenecks consistently occur
What "good looks like" for each responsibility
2. They Build Operational Infrastructure
Instead of "please manage my calendar," they create:
Meeting acceptance criteria (who gets on your calendar, when, and why)
Email triage frameworks (what requires your response vs. can be handled)
Vendor management protocols
Travel preference documentation
3. They Measure Systems, Not Tasks
The question isn't "did they book my travel?" It's "can anyone on the team book travel following this system?"
The Real ROI of Strategic Support
When you approach executive assistance as systems design rather than task management, the economics change dramatically:
Traditional EA: Manages tasks → Saves you 10 hours/week → Dependent on them Strategic EA: Builds systems → Saves you 20 hours/week → Creates transferable infrastructure
One is an expense. The other is an investment.
How to Know If You Need Systems, Not Just Support
Ask yourself:
❓ Would your business operations pause if your EA took a week off?
❓ Do you spend more than 30 minutes daily giving your EA direction?
❓ Can your team execute your standards without asking you?
❓ Are the same questions coming up repeatedly?
If you answered "yes" to any of these, you don't have an EA problem — you have a systems problem.
What to Do Next
The goal isn't to hire a better EA. It's to build an operating system that works with or without any single person.
Start here:
Audit your time for one week. Every time you make a decision, document the criteria.
Identify patterns. What questions come up repeatedly? What tasks follow the same format?
Build decision frameworks. Create simple if/then rules for common scenarios.
Document workflows for anything you do more than twice.
Then — and only then — bring on executive support to manage and improve those systems.
Because the best EAs don't just manage your tasks. They manage your infrastructure.
The Bottom Line
If you're spending $10K+/month on executive support and still feel overwhelmed, the problem isn't the person you hired.
It's that you hired a person when you needed a system.
Fix the foundation first. The right support will multiply your results.
Ready to build operational systems that scale? Book a discovery call with JobSure to assess whether you need better systems, better support, or both.