The 122-Hour Advantage: How Leaders Can Unlock the Trillion-Dollar AI Opportunity Hiding in Admin Work

In my AI fluency article, I made this clear: if your leadership team can't talk AI fluently, your organization stays stuck in sandbox mode.

This is the next step.

Google's UK pilot found that with minimal training and clear permission, employees were able to reclaim 122 hours a year by using AI to automate admin tasks like emails, meeting prep, documentation, and scheduling.

That's three weeks of time, per person, per year. Just sitting there.

Here's the truth: the tools are already in place, but no one's using them to their full potential. Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, FifthRow, Notion AI, Zoom Companion, it's all there. You're paying for it, but no one's been shown how to use it to save time in a way that compounds value.

Time has become your highest-leverage asset. And most leaders are wasting it.

Where Time Is Hiding in Plain Sight

The biggest wins aren't flashy. They're practical. Here's how smart companies can earn hours back every week without changing platforms or hiring consultants.

Email management: Use Copilot to summarize threads, draft replies, and extract action items. Sales teams save 3 to 5 hours a week just by not living in their inboxes.

Meeting notes and recaps: Tools like Zoom Companion or Fireflies handle transcription and generate summaries with next steps. No more manual notes. Multiply that by every standing meeting, and you've reclaimed dozens of hours per month.

Research and reports: With FifthRow, teams are building apps automatically generating competitive scans, customer and stakeholder intelligence updates, and market entry briefs. A 6-hour weekly deck becomes a 30-minute review process. Faster insights. Faster market moves.

Internal knowledge and customer service: With FifthRow's Answers platform, companies are turning internal documents, SOPs, and product FAQs into AI-powered assistants. Employees and customers get what they need instantly. Customer support teams resolve tickets in seconds. New hires ramp faster. And your most experienced people aren't answering the same question ten times a week.

Here's the Playbook You Haven't Run Yet

This isn't about "becoming an AI company." It's about finally getting value from what you already have.

If I were in your shoes, here's what I would do:

1. Identify your top 3 time-draining tasks or workflows.

2. Train your team on the tools they already have, Copilot, ChatGPT, FifthRow.

3. Set a shared goal to reclaim 10 hours a month per person.

4. Build a culture of reinvesting that time into innovation, growth, coaching, or customer value. You must show your team how to do it; lead the way.

Start small. Prove the ROI in 30 days. Then scale.

For a next-level view on this process, check out my article: Automate the Now to Unlock What's Next: AI as the Lever for High-Performing Leaders.

Time Saved Is Only the Beginning

If your employees get 122 hours a year back, what are you going to do with it?

That's the real unlock.

This is where AI goes from being a cost saver to a growth engine.

Use the time to:

• Launch what's been stuck in backlog

• Accelerate the things you should have been doing along

• Take your capabilities to the next level

• Explore new markets

• Build strategic clarity

• Move from reacting to shaping

AI doesn't just help you do more work. It helps you do the right work.

Challenge to Leaders

If you're in a leadership seat, ask yourself:

Are we building AI literacy just to check the box? Or are we building AI capability to unlock real growth?

Your team doesn’t need more tools. They need better usage. Not more pressure, more leverage. You don't need another AI strategy doc. You need a POV on time.

Time is now your strategic moat. Your capacity driver. Your differentiator.

If you want to lead, show your team what's possible when you give them time back and train them to use it.

Most companies are still deciding which tool to buy next. The winners will be those who know how to use the tools they already have.

Are you ready to lead the way?

If you need any extra motivation, I'll do the math for you. This is just admin-level work:

About the Author

Jason Hauer is CEO of HauerX Holdings and an Inc. 500 honoree. He partners with commercial AI tech and solutions companies to turn ambition into market leadership.