For reference - Lambda functions used to billed at 100ms intervals. My Node.Js function usually only takes 37-40ms to run. So this is a pretty good advancement for cost savings.
I've never used Lambda, but any time I have a function that I need to run in response to some event or perodically (that's what Lambda is, right?), it's set up in a background worker specifically because it's long and slow, as anything fast can be done synchronously without the overhead.