How much should a virtual office assistant cost per hour?

[smeone]

Would be grateful for advice on how much an hour a virtual office assistant should cost and how that compares with an office temp?

Thanks in advance!

Dave

 

[DavidP2P]

Hi Dave!

What type of work are you referring to, as a Virtual Assistant can mean many different skills that are variable in cost/hour. Are you looking locally/overseas? Are you going to train the person or expect them to "hit the ground running"?

I have a virtual assistant overseas, but depending on the type of work would help me decide whether it was a local person, like a bookkeeper as an example.

Regards,

David

 

[Dawn Lane]

Hi Dave

It's a bit like asking 'how long's a piece of string?' You can get an overseas VA for about $5.00 per hour or one based inthe UK / USA for anything from £15 - £40 per hour. It depends on what you want the VA to do, what skill levels they have, whether they are on the same English language and culture wave length as you, how much autonomy you want to give them etc

I work with a number of clients within the UK as their PA and/or bookkeeper and my rates range from £25 - £30 per hour depending on what I do for them. I would like to say that I do, for the majority of my clients, act autonomously as would a typical PA within an office environment, and a lot of the time my clients are not even aware of what I am doing until it's done - I'm a problem solver not a follower of instructions - hence the higher rate.

I also run my own business (two actually) and offer advice to them along the lines of a business manager much of the time too. VAs who work overseas at low wages tend to follow instructions and work for agencies and therefore may not be as business savvy as VAs in the UK who tend to work for themselves.

 

[VanillaOnlineAccountancy]

I would say it depends on what your "hourly rate" is - if you earn £50 an hour and pay £20 per hour for admin you are better off spending more time developing your business and paying he £20 per hour.

 

[North Kent Cleaning]

It all depends what they are worth to you. Are they any good? Are you happy with the price you are paying? I always think if you think the price is fair you shouldn't shop around into the unknown for something cheaper.

 

[anthonyUK]

One thing is sure, if you want great VA you need to pay a little bit higher rate than usual. But sometimes you can find very good assistant for lower price.

 

[RodriVLR]

Have a look in Odesk, there are plenty of people willing to work for a good price. Depend on the quality expected.

 

[AlanGuidry]

I've used a few VA's over the years (mainly when I lived in the states). I have to say they can vary quite considerably in quality and what they offer. Pricing is therefore dependent very much on what you require and the office hours you expect them to be available to work. I would start by writing down a list of your pre-requistes and then look for VA's that fulfil your precise brief.

 

[zobozobo]

I think based on VA skill and what kinds of works. Entry data is lower price, article writer medium price and then programmer higer price, I think...

 

[Richard White]

I agree that the cost per hour question is not a good one.

I had been paying a VA £25 per hour to do a few projects for me that I did not have time to do myself. I had a big project that she was unable to do and I ended up using another VA that cost £35 per hour. Although the hourly rate was less she required much less of my time and did everything much quicker.

I think before you ask how much its going to cost you need to decide what you want the person to do. Having someone who is able to work on their own initiative and represent you when speaking to clients is worth investing in as long as the cost is less as the opportunity cost of you doing the work yourself....hope that makes sense

 

[HazelC]

I would say it depends on what your "hourly rate" is - if you earn £50 an hour and pay £20 per hour for admin you are better off spending more time developing your business and paying he £20 per hour.

I was going to say exactly that - my admin lady (originally a VA now employed by me) does all our invoicing and accounts stuff. She is £25 an hour so it's cheaper for her to do it than me do it myself.