Something I've always wondered: if a creature has a beneficial spell like ability it can cast at will is it safe to assume the creature always has it running except in a few situations (it just woke up, the spell only lasts 1/round per level and after guarding a place for days straight it got tired of casting it every minute or so.) I would think so. Also, related question, if a creature or npc has a long list of spells/spell-like abilities do you (as the DM) make a list of what protective spells to buff itself with if it has time? I noticed most of the spell casting npcs in the official books have something like this written down, and I would assume the spells are listed in descending order of importance.
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Yeah it probably depends on the duration and utility of the ability.
If I had at-will Heightened Awareness I'd definitely take 6 seconds to cast it, even at CL1 it lasts 10 minutes.
Invisibility on the other hand is something that'd probably only be used in certain circumstances, but in those circumstances there's really no reason not to have it up.
Anything less than a 1-minute duration (or really less than 5 or so) is probably going to be something you don't bother with until they're needed.
Even 10-minute or 1-hour duration spells you'd probably wait till they expire rather than counting the seconds to refresh them, so you could roll a d% to see how long the buff has left if the creature is surprised.