What does it cost not to have a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is far more cost effective than a regular employee. Let’s take a conservative look at the effective cost of hiring a full-time “brick and mortar” assistant for the average church:
$13.00/hour: Employee wage
$ .53/hour: Two weeks of vacation time
$ .27/hour: One week sick time
$ .48/hour: Health insurance
$ .99/hour: FICA (7.65% of wages)
$ .42/hour: Unemployment insurance (3.25%)
$ .77/hour: Desk, chair, computer, supplies
$ .32/hour: Holiday pay
$ .06/hour: Placing a help wanted ad in the paper
$ .10/hour: Your time spent interviewing candidates
$ .03/hour: Profile test
$ .08/hour: Payroll processing
$ 3.06/hour: Office rent (based on $500/month rent)
$20.11/hour: Total cost
Our $13/hour employee just became a $20/hour employee, plus there is potential for liabilities that could cost our church even more! Do we really want our church to be held liable later on for an office not being ergonomically friendly, or for an employee developing carpal tunnel syndrome? Currently our churches are paying for water cooler breaks, restroom breaks, long lunches, and staff development time.
Here is a cost comparison of a full-time employee, a part-time employee, and a virtual assistant:
Let’s say we pay a full-time and a part-time employee $13.00 an hour, and just as an example (Virtual Ministry Assistants does not bill by the hour—more on that later), a virtual assistant is paid $20.00 an hour.
Based on the previous example, our $13.00-an-hour full-time employee is effectively $20.11 per hour. The annual salary for that employee is $41,820.80.
Based on the same example, and working 30 hours a week, our part-time employee's annual salary comes to $31,371.60 with benefits or $26,676.00 without benefits.
Studies show (and our experiences have confirmed) that in most cases, we will typically get only 20–25 hours a week of productivity from a 30-hour onsite employee due to interruptions, breaks, and distractions. What if we only paid for times of productivity?
Full-time (40hrs) | Part-time w/benefits (30hrs) | Part-time w/o benefits (30hrs) | Virtual assistant (25 hrs) | Virtual assistant (20 hrs) | |
Hourly Rate | $13.00 | $13.00 | $13.00 | $20.00 | $20.00 |
Effective Rate | $20.11 | $20.11 | $17.10 | $20.00 | $20.00 |
Total Cost to Church | $41,820.80 | $31,371.60 | $26,676.00 | $26,000 | $20,800 |
Instead of hourly, let's take a different approach—a better approach. What if we put a value on our deliverables and agree to pay only that set amount, independent of how long it takes and how often we ask for them? That means when we increase ministry tempo (for example, at Easter or Christmas) our administrative costs do not increase.
The latter is how Virtual Ministry Assistants operate. Churches never have to worry about overruns on administrative costs or projects. This gives churches consistent services that do not increase. In fact, Virtual Ministry Assistants often lower churches’ costs in cases when project scope and/or number of deliverables decreases. (Who does that? Who lowers their cost? An organization that loves the church and yearns to see her prosper and change lives. That is what makes VMA so unique and different from other virtual assistant companies.)
With a part-time virtual assistant, the church simply supplies tasks, sets deadlines, gets results, and saves money.