Virtual assistants are highly skilled contractors who provide various support services that can help you run your business. Contracted virtual assistants are different from employees, and their hourly rates reflect that. While you may pay an administrative or project assistant $25 per hour as an employee, an experienced virtual assistant could easily charge twice that for their services.
Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to hire a new employee for a lower hourly rate? Likely not.
Wouldn’t it be more cost effective to hire a new employee for a lower hourly rate? Likely not. Let’s look at two factors to consider when comparing the cost of a contracted virtual assistant to an employee:
It’s estimated that benefits and taxes are an additional 18-26% on top of a base employee salary. And that’s not including the overhead required to outfit the position.
In their 2014 Wasting Time at Work Survey, the folks at salary.com found that 89% of employees waste time at work. I didn’t even include browsing the internet or social media in my list of activities above, which apparently make up 30% of the time wasted in a week.
SUMMARY: With a virtual assistant you pay only for the work done for you – nothing else. Yes, the hourly rate is higher, but you won't be paying for unproductive time, holidays, benefits, or office-related overhead.
As a bonus, if you run out of work to delegate, you can easily end the relationship according to the terms in the agreement you’ve signed – you’re not stuck paying an employee with no work to do. Simply put, a virtual assistant is available when you need them, but not on the payroll when you don’t.
Simply put, a virtual assistant is available when you need them, but not on the payroll when you don’t.
Interested to learn about the work I do for my clients as a virtual assistant? Check out my What I do page. And while you're looking around this site, you may also wish to see my frequently asked questions.
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