VA vs Employee: How do They Stack Up?

Find out which option will work best for your business.

We’ve seen it so many times before: the trades or service business owner who is heading full tit towards burnout or madness. They’re burning the candle at both ends, trying to work on the tools and on the business at the same time.

For these SME owners, admitting they need help is the first step towards sanity. From there, however, there is a decision to be made. Is it better to outsource your business administration to a virtual assistant or to hire an employee?

Both options have their perks and pitfalls. As a VA agency, we’re not denying that we’re a little bit biased on which is better—but we’re also uniquely placed to explain the differences when it comes to some key aspects of the experience. 

Recruiting

Employee

If you’ve hired team members before, you’ll be familiar with the process it requires. There’s writing the job advertisement, advertising the role, sorting through applications, narrowing them down, conducting interviews, and hoping you’ve made the best decision. It’s a lot to think about!

VA

Finding a VA will likely begin with reaching out to an agency or freelancer. At Released, we have potential clients book a discovery call in which they chat with a member of our leadership team about the kind of help they need. From there, it’s largely off your plate and onto ours: we’ll come up with a proposal for your approval and find the VA that best fits your requirements from our pool of differently-talented New Zealand based pros.

Skills and capabilities

Employee

You’ve found a competent person to do your administrative work—and if your needs don’t range beyond the defined role you’ve hired for, you’re all set. However, the nature of an SME is often that things pop up and situations change. Even with a wonderful administrative employee, there may be new needs that can’t be met within your established team as your business grows and adapts. You’ll then be again faced with the challenge of deciding whether to outsource or employ.

VA

One of the most significant benefits of a VA agency like Released is access to a deep pool of talent and experience. While you will have a dedicated VA who gets to know and understand your business, they are backed up by a team full of different specialist talents. When they have a question about a specific issue or obstacle, it’s usually easily cleared up with a single message in the group chat or phone conversation with their POD leader.

Additionally, our team offers specialist services such as digital marketing and website design. It is seamless for existing clients to add these to their packages as they move their business to the next level.

Overheads, expenses, and responsibilities

Employee

An administrative employee’s hourly rate is likely to be lower than the hourly rate of a VA. However, there are many overheads associated with an employee beyond what they receive in their bank account each week: sick pay, holiday pay, ACC, KiwiSaver, and office space and equipment. They will work set hours each week, regardless of how much work you have for them to fill that time. 

As an employer, there are a range of responsibilities you hold under the Health and Safety at Work Act 2015 and Employment Relations Act 2000. You must follow fair process when taking action against them and are bound by their employment agreement. All of these are crucial labour laws designed to protect both parties—but for SMEs in the fast-changing world of trades and services, they can be restrictive.

VA

A VA will most likely cost more per hour than an employee, but this hourly cost is easily balanced by a lack of overheads and extra expenses. There’s no paid leave, no ACC or Kiwisaver, no need to make space in your office or provide equipment—you’re paying solely for the hours of work. Additionally, it is much easier to adjust the amount of hours you are using (and paying for).

As a contractor, a VA or VA agency holds responsibility for their own health and safety and employment concerns.

Flexibility and cover

Employee

As mentioned above, an employee is hired for a set amount of hours. If you find yourself with too much or too little work to fit into that amount of time, it’s tricky to adjust it—particularly when you consider that it might change again in a week or a month’s time.

When an employee is sick or away on holiday, you will simply have to do without them, unless you are willing to navigate the costly experience of using temps.

VA

VA services like what we offer at Released are a flexible resource. Most clients allocate a budget for a particular number of hours per week or month, these are easily adjustable as needs change and we have ad-hoc services available too for businesses who need some project work here and there. You pay only for what you use.

An agency also has inbuilt back up so you’re covered even when your assigned VA is off or away. At Released, we arrange our team into PODs for this very reason—each individual is in a group of other VAs with similar skills and knowledge of the same systems, who are trained and ready to step in when needed.

Every business is unique, with different needs—and being informed about the various options is how you can make the right decision! Some of our clients have used our VA services as their business grew, then employed someone full-time when they were able to. We love to see these companies scale and succeed.

If you’re not sure about whether a VA is the best choice for you, why not book in a no-obligations 15-minute discovery call to talk it through?