5 Non-AI Reasons Why You Still Have Toil

Toil — manual, repetitive tasks and sometimes dubbed “busy work” — had been steadily declining since 2020, thanks to automation and streamlined workflows. But our annual SRE Report revealed a surprising reversal, as the median of time spent on toil has stopped improving in 2025 and actually rose back to 2023 levels.

The SRE Report 2025 Insight: Toil levels stopped improving. Is AI adding new demands?

With AI adoption accelerating, it’s easy to wonder if there is a cause-and-effect relationship. Headlines scream about automation…