Virtual Assistants' services run on average about $25-$40+ an hour. Let's compare this with the cost of hiring an employee. An employee's actual cost is 2 to 2 1/2 times their salary. Here is a case example of hiring an employee to manage a certain chore vs. hiring an experienced VA charging $25 an hour.

 

The Employee
Hourly Pay Rate: $12.00
Fringe Benefits @ 35% +4.20
Overhead Rate @ 50% +6.00
Total Effective Pay Rate: $22.20
Hours per year x2,080
Total Annual Labor Cost $46,176.00

In the case of the employee, this new employee is paid a wage of $12 an hour. However, this wage is not the true cost to the organization. The cost of benefits for the employee (health insurance, life insurance, 401k, and so on) weighs in at 35 percent of the hourly wage, or $4.20. Overhead---electricity, facilities, computers and so forth---costs the organization another 50% of the employee's wage or $6.00 for each hour worked and paid. This brings the employee's total cost to the organization to $22.20 an hour--almost double the wage paid to the employee for each hour worked. When you multiply the hourly rate by the standard number of hours in a work year, the grand total for the new employee comes to a very costly $46,176.00.

 

The Virtual Assistant
Hourly Pay Rate $25.00
Total Effective Pay Rate $25.00
Hours per year x1,040
Total Annual Cost $26,000

You actually save almost $20,000 a year by contracting with a VA rather than hiring a full-time employee. Although the VA's hourly rate is more than the new employee's rate in the first case, you save the cost of benefits and overhead that would have to be applied to the new employee's wage. Not only that, but because VA's are more experienced, more efficient, and better connected than the employee, you'll need to devote far less time to the project to get the same results-only 1,040 hours a year versus 2,080 for the new employee.