How Hiring a Virtual Assistant Over Full Time Employees Saves $60,000!

As a business grows and expands, it needs the right support for managing tasks and projects.

Employers are faced with the million dollar question: Should they hire a full-time employee or a virtual assistant?

The decision is easy to make if you consider what a full-time employee costs you in terms of cash and non-monetary factors as well.

Moving past just the cash, here’s why you should consider the true cost of hiring a full-time employee as opposed to a virtual assistant (though money matters too!).

Let’s dive deep into what a full-time employee costs as against a virtual assistant, comparison chart based analysis included along with a true measure of the big debate.

Whether you are launching your business or have been in the industry for a while, hiring the right person for the job matters.

Making a wrong decision can cost time, energy, effort and (of course) money! In the present cloud-based connected corporate ecosystem, having a virtual assistant can help businesses to leverage digital technologies.

The true cost of not outsourcing your workload to a virtual assistant is worth more than the US$60,000 estimated per year by VAN, the world’s largest virtual assistant networking association.

It’s no longer a secret that for rapid business growth, finding the best virtual assistant for the job is a smart move.

• Cut Down on The Cost Spiral

Virtual assistants go beyond typical secretaries or administrative assistants.

There’s much more a virtual assistant can do than just answer the mail or manage the calendar.

Among the top-rated virtual assistants in the business, you can find specialists in fields like SEO, video editing, content writing or even social media marketing.

Glassdoor estimates that a full-time social media manager can cost US$47190.

But a virtual social media assistant costs only US$25,000 per year!

There’s a mistake in this estimation though.

The true cost of hiring a full-time employee like a social media manager is way more than the salary you pay them.

There are other expenses which add up too.

• The Hard Costs and the Soft Costs: The Whole Picture

It's easy to find this out using an employee cost calculator before hiring a full time employee.

Consider that there’s health care, taxes, worker compensation, paid sick leave, paid vacations, payroll costs, life insurance and office equipment as well as expenses.

When one hires a VA, one is paying for only the hours worked and the project rates agreed on.

Additionally, virtual assistants maintain a work log, tracking the hours they put in online.

As virtual assistants work remotely, they use their own equipment.

As independent professionals, they cover their own taxes and expenses.

Virtual assistants also do not qualify as employees for tax purposes.

The pay as you go, model, makes it easy to only offer remuneration for the hours worked.

There are also soft costs associated with having a full-time employee as against a virtual assistant.

Consider “water cooler time” or the period for which employees don’t work even though they are paid for.

Additionally, the cost of locating, hiring, training and managing a full-time employee is way more.

Retaining employees and preventing turnover is yet another hurdle you can overcome by opting for a virtual assistant.

• The Problem of Productivity

If employers want their full-time employees to be more productive or learn more skills, the cost of training falls on the business.

Virtual assistants upgrade their own skills at their own cost and don’t incur training expenses for boosting productivity.

Additionally, employers may use a full-time employee for tasks that fall outside the worker’s expertise.

This can cost higher project cost as employees need to acquire skill sets.

Virtual assistants are specialists and so they also offer huge savings to employers.

Cost is not the only benefit to consider while hiring employees or virtual assistants.

But for those who want a dollar by dollar comparison, here it is:

Hourly rate of pay may be US$20 for full-time employees and $35 for virtual assistants.

But when it comes to the fringe benefits like health, dental or life insurance or retirement plans, the cost for the full-time employee is $7 as opposed to zero for the VA.

Then, there’s the overhead rate at 50 percent which includes office space, equipment, supply expenses, worker compensation, OT, pay/salary. administration costs or UI insurance.

It costs $10 for full-time employees.

Virtual assistants, on the other hand, save you the cost of buying them infrastructure or equipment, Now let’s consider the hourly pay taking the overheads and fringe benefits into account.

Here’s the actual table:

As your virtual assistant is more efficient, experienced and better connected, less time is needed to get the same results.

Office or in hour employees can cost regarding payroll taxes, social security, insurance, overtime fees and benefits.

You need to provide office space, electricity and equipment. Paid salaries or hourly wage is shelled out even if tasks are not completed.

Additionally, employees may waste time at work, and you may need to hire and train additional staff.

Office full-time employees are limited regarding training or skill sets.

Additionally, they may not offer weekend or evening assistance.

Home based, virtual assistants offer no employee-related taxes, insurance, benefits or paperwork.

No additional office space or equipment costs are incurred. With payment for tasks completed, a virtual assistant can stay on schedule.

They can supplement your office staff during seasonal or peak activity time.

Support is provided along with faster turnaround time and specialised skills.

Hourly rates for virtual assistants may vary, but their skill sets and specialisations make them way more cost effective than the traditional in-house employee.

When employees are being hired, you have to take more costs into account than just the wage.

Here are some costly habits full-time employees have:

• Extended internet surfing
• Last in first out
• Personal calls in office hours
• A lot of socialising
• Running personal errands in business hours

And the list goes on, adding further to your reasons for choosing virtual assistants as opposed to full-time employees.

So, get moving and find the best virtual assistant for the job you could be adding to company profits, apart from just cutting down on costs!