EMPLOYEE OR VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

Is your business growing to such an extent that you feel you will need to hire another employee?

You may want to reconsider.  Believe it or not, hiring a Virtual Assistant, like us, Fylde Virtual Assistants, is going to be cheaper than taking on a new permanent staff member.

Before making the decision between hiring a full-time employee or a virtual assistant, it might be worth looking at your current workload and commitments and identifying which tasks can be delegated.  Consider the benefits that a VA like us may be able to bring to a business like yours.

Assuming you were to hire someone for 35 hours per week at £11.50 per hour, or even £12.00 in adherence to the National Minimum Wage law, it would cost you about £420.00 per week to pay that person (or £21,840.00 a year, to begin with).

However, you also have to make National Insurance contributions on their behalf, include the costs and time to advertise for their role, the time spent interviewing and selecting the suitable candidate, and if you decided to hire a recruitment agency, you will also have to factor in their associated costs.

There are also the additional costs for Holiday Pay, Training costs, Equipment, IT, office space costs, and pensions contributions for them, or the possibility of Maternity or Paternity Leave pay. 

Not to mention the cost and time wasted, especially when it comes to advertising, interviewing and training staff. A recent study in 2020, by State of Work, reported that UK employees only spend under half of their time working due to “unproductive activities and misapplied technologies”. These include things like catching up with gossip at work, checking their phones, going to the lavatory, etc.

Then, there are other time-consuming and cost-incurring necessary processes, like putting systems in place and providing adequate equipment to comply with Health and Safety, and other HR functions, like Payroll and Disciplinary issues.

And what if you knew that the modern workplace is now experiencing an increased 55% absence rate since 2019 due to sickness? This was reported by www.peoplehr.comand https://www.hsse.gov/statistics/overview.htm

It might interest you to find out that Personnel Today https://www.personneltoday.com reported, nearly one in four workers plan to leave their current jobs in 2025.  This was according to predicted attrition data acquired from 10 million employees in the UK.  A further 13% do not see themselves working for their current employer in the long term, until 2026. What return will you get on all the time and money you invest in a new employee?

The employee experience provider Culture Amp https://www.cultureamp.com have estimated that the cost of replacing an employee starts at 30% of an average employee’s salary. Is it really worth investing that much in a new employee?

By comparison, Virtual Assistants, like us, Fylde VA, can offer you an alternative.  We work to targets, we are flexible, and with us, you will not be tied in to a long-term contract. If you want 20 hours’ worth of work, then you will get 20 hours of pure work.  On the other hand, if you only want, say, 10 hours’ worth of work if it’s not a busy period, then it won’t be a problem either. With VA’s like us, you will not have to pay us if we stop to chat to someone, make personal or comfort calls, or attend medical appointments, and the like.

With the recent budget granting National Minimum and Living Wage Increases, and Employer National Insurance rises, together with the Workers’ Rights Bill, which includes Flexible Working, Maternity and Paternity and Sick Leave from day one, it could cost businesses as much as £5 billion a year! So, hiring a VA, only as and when you need them, can become a viable alternative to hiring full-time staff.

Please rest assured, Fylde Virtual Assistants will put you, our customer, first every time.  You can rest easy, in the knowledge that by working with us, you can trust that we will treat your business as if it were our own. You, as our customer (and your customers), will get nothing but the highest level of service from us, open and constant communication (or as much / as little communication as you prefer) to ensure you remain satisfied with the work we’re doing for you.

Above all, we hope to leave you with more free time to do the bigger, more important things that you feel need your attention to grow your business, or perhaps, more precious time to spend with your family.

So, what are you waiting for? Sign up through the link below to avail of your 50% off one hour’s trial task today!