As companies start to tighten their spending belts, it may seem an unlikely time to be a virtual assistant. However, for a budget watching business owner, a virtual assistant maybe the solution they’ve been searching for.
With a virtual assistant, a small business owner gets the benefit of administrative staff without the paying taxes, providing benefits, healthcare, or vacation. In addition a virtual assistant has her own office and office equipment saving them money almost immediately.
The fees for virtual assistants vary and oftentimes when a small business owner sees a $25 or more an hour fee they hesitate thinking they can hire someone for half that amount in this economy. When considering whether or not this wage is cost-saving, business owners consider the actual costs of hiring an employee. Once an employer adds the cost of office space, equipment, taxes, benefits, and vacation time he’ll find that in addition to their hourly rate, an onsite employee adds an additional 35% to their hourly rate.
In addition to these additional costs, you also pay for downtime. With a virtual assistant you only pay for work actually completed. If you only need someone for a few hours a month, you can control your costs by contracting for these hours. You don’t pay for someone to converse with other employees, surf the Internet, or make personal phone calls. In addition, with a virtual assistant you’re partnering with a business owner instead of someone who working for a paycheck. For virtual assistants, a happy client is a referring client so its imperative for the success of their business to provide their clients with quality service.
So, as companies of all sizes consider how to do more work with less employees they should definitely consider the services of a virtual assistant.
