Aldine vs. Hiring an Executive Assistant
If you're drowning in email, portfolio updates, and family requests, you have two choices: hire a human executive assistant, or deploy an AI one. Both solve real problems. Neither is perfect. Here's an honest comparison.
Cost comparison
Human Executive Assistant | |
|---|---|
Salary (Switzerland, full-time) | CHF 80,000/year |
Benefits & overhead | CHF 20,000/year |
Hiring & training time | 4–12 weeks |
Year 1 total | CHF 100,000 |
Year 2 total | CHF 100,000 |
Aldine | |
|---|---|
Setup & onboarding (one-time) | ~CHF 15,000 |
Monthly service | CHF 800-2,000/year |
Time to deploy | 2-4 weeks |
Year 1 total | CHF 25,000 - 39,000 |
Year 2 total | CHF 10,000 - 24,000 |
Aldine costs roughly 25-40% of a full-time EA — with 24/7 availability.
What each does well
Aldine excels at:
• 24/7 availability — Processes overnight emails, has everything triaged by morning
• Speed — Responds to scheduling and information requests in seconds, not hours
• Consistency — Never has a bad day. Follow-ups are tracked, not forgotten.
• Information synthesis — Pulls data from email, calendar, documents and summarises in seconds
• No management overhead — No 1-on-1s, no PTO, no performance reviews, no turnover.
Human EAs excel at:
• Judgment calls — Knowing when to escalate, reading social dynamics, handling sensitive situations with nuance.
• Physical tasks — Handling deliveries, managing office logistics.
• Relationship building — Remembering personal details, sending handwritten notes, managing gifts.
• Complex coordination — Planning family events, managing household staff
• Emotional intelligence — Knowing when something is truly urgent vs. routine
Side-by-side comparison
Aldine | Human EA | |
Email triage | Automated, 24/7 | Business hours |
Calendar scheduling and agenda | Instant | Fast, but human speed |
Morning briefing | Automated daily | If trained |
Portfolio summaries | Automated | Manual research |
Follow-up tracking | Automatic | Varies |
Travel booking | Partial | Excellent |
Availability | 24/7/365 | ~40 hrs/week |
Ramp-up time | 1–2 weeks | 4–12 weeks |
Confidentiality | No human in the loop | Requires trust |
Judgment & nuance | Improving, but limited | Excellent |
When to choose Aldine
• You need help now, not in 3 months after hiring
• Your bottleneck is email, scheduling, and information synthesis, presentation and reports making — not physical tasks
• You want an assistant that's available across time zones
• You value confidentiality — AI with no human staff seeing your data
• You're a lean operation (1–5 principals) where a full-time EA isn't justified
When to hire a human EA instead
• You need travel management, event planning, or physical logistics
• Your role involves high-stakes communication requiring human judgment on every message
• You prefer a personal relationship with your assistant
• You're at a scale where a full-time EA is a rounding error
Try Aldine
Book a discovery call. We'll assess your workflow and show you what Aldine can handle from day one.
