Businesses owners hire Virtual Assistants to take on supplemental and administrative tasks, such as editing and proof-reading webinar presentations, sending thank you notes to customers and scheduling appointments, freeing up time for to increase profits and enjoy success with friends and family.
The Virtual Assistant community is a group of professionals who are largely former corporate employees committed to the highest level of service and quality. Becoming a Virtual Assistant is not an entry level role. Virtual Assistants bring years of administrative experience and knowledge who already “know the ropes” as opposed to a full-time employee who may be new to the business world.
In doing a cost/benefit analysis to compare a Virtual Assistant (VA) to hiring a full-time employee (FTE), you may look at the per hour rate and on the surface think that you can hire a full-time employee more cheaply. A Virtual Assistant rate is typically from $35 – $50 per hour based on the time worked. A full-time employee is typically paid for 40 hours per week at a rate of around $15 – $25 per hour plus overtime.
Looking at the big picture takes “hidden” costs into account in your analysis and shows a true benefit for hiring a Virtual Assistant:
| Expense | Estimated Annual Cost with VA | Estimate Annual Cost with FTE |
| Vacation, holiday, sick time, unproductive time | $0 | $2,400 – $3,6001 |
| Equipment, maintenance, office supplies | $0 | $2,000 – $5,000 |
| Office space, heating, cooling | $0 | $4,2002 |
| Benefits | $0 | $10,9203 |
| Overtime pay | $0 | $2,2504 |
| Payroll Taxes | $0 | $2,3875 |
| Training, Learning and Development | $08 | $1,200 – $1,8006 |
| Hourly Rate | $32,2009 | $27,6007 |
| TOTAL INVESTMENT | $32,200 | $52,957 |
That’s over $20,000 in your pocket every year. Plus, did you know that the service provided by a VA is a tax-deductible expense?
Are you avoiding these expenses or will you continue to pay them?
Thank you for reading my blog – I hope to have you back again soon.
Footnotes:
14-6 weeks a year vacation, sick and unproductive time 210×10 office space (100 sq. ft.) at $3.50/sq. ft. per month for 12 months 335% of salary for benefit 4 Time and a half of hourly wage for estimated 100 hours per year ($22.50/hour for OT) 5 Social Security is 6.2% and Medicare Tax is 1.45% 62-3 weeks per year for training 740 hours per week @$15/hour for 46 weeks (52 weeks less holidays, sick, vacation and training weeks) 8There is no charge for training time with a VA. The client will only be charged for the time it takes to do the work. 920 hours per week @ $35/hour for 46 weeks
