VA Agency vs Employee VA vs Freelance VA

Hiring a VA can take different paths, each with its own strengths. There are several ways you could opt-in to hire the right help for your business.

In this post, we are going to cover three of the most common business model options for that you can hire virtual assistance support. As we go through this, it will be very clear what features each has, and when one model may benefit you more than the other.

The business models that we are going to cover are:

• Agency
• Direct hire
• Freelancer

This post should give you a better understanding of the pros and cons of each of these models. Ultimately, what will determine the best one for you are your requirements and needs.

Before jumping in, I wanted to recommend downloading the following Workbook to get the complete guide to hiring the right help for your business. It includes several tools, including an exercise on how to determine the number of hours that you will need an assistant for. Download it here for FREE.

There are many ways to hire a VA…which is the best option to hire?

After making the decision about hiring, what your ideal Virtual Assistant must have, it’s time to focus on where to find it. Should you go with an Agency, a direct employee, or a freelancer?

Here are some insights to get started.

Agency

A VA agency is a business focused on providing virtual assistance services. There are many agency models such as per hour, per task, or monthly retainer packages. Regardless, these typically share the following characteristics:

Managed by VA

The virtual assistant is actually managed by an agency. It means the agency is responsible for their time, service, and performance. This is beneficial for small businesses that needs VA support but cannot spend time actually managing the virtual assistant.

“Ask and you shall receive”. When hiring an agency, they look for the best assistant for your needs, without you going through all of the hassles of interviewing and reviewing applications.

Equipment such as laptop, phone, and the internet is provided by the agency

VA agencies will be responsible for set-up up the employees with tools and equipment. This means everything from pen and paper to laptop and internet connection. This is good when you want business-level equipment but nothing very specialized. It will take away the hassle of equipping it yourself or enduring poor performance due to old equipment.

HR is covered by the agency

If you are a small business of 5, 10, or even 20 people, you probably don’t have an HR function yet. This makes sense because having an HR function is expensive and must scale. When your business is still growing it makes more sense to outsource that function or find services that cover it.

Culture and employee values are driven by the agencies’

The agency’s culture and values will be quickly adopted by the employee. Your company’s culture can also be adopted but a lot of times, it is the agency’s that predominates. This can be either a good or a bad thing, depending on your preferences.

Larger network and cross-knowledge in the agency, experience

An agency is formed of multiple virtual assistants and a portfolio of clients. This opens up access to a lot of best practices sharing from various ways of working and customers. Benefits can be materialized such as implementing best practices to your business that your VA learns. When you hire a VA as a full-time employee, this may be limited.

Best when hiring a smaller team of VAs

Virtual Assistant agencies make sense when your business is starting to grow. This is typically when the founder of a company will be dealing with multiple items and time management will become a blocker. Hiring a full-time VA at this point may not make sense because you do not have a full-blown HR function. VA agencies solve this by providing you with a solution at a low effort.

Direct hire

The direct hire model is when you are hiring the Virtual Assistant directly. Similarly to agencies, there are various models but the trait that should be shared is that you are hiring the employee directly and not through an agency. It is basically like hiring an employee.

Full control of resource

One good quality of this option is that you have more control over the resource’s time. This comes with the fact that you have to manage the employee more actively, however when you have large VA teams, this is something that scales.

Have to invest in HR activities, benefits, etc.

Another drawback of this model is HR. If you are hiring an employee, it becomes your responsibility to ensure they get paid on time, address people’s issues, and deliver their benefits. This can also be a positive if you actually have an HR function. It allows you to shape up and customize how you support your employees.

Responsible for equipment such as laptop, phone, and internet.

When hiring a VA directly, you will have 3 options to provide them with equipment to do the job:

1. Rely on the VA’s equipment
2. Provide the actual equipment

The benefit of having the responsibility to ensure that the VA has tools is that you again have better control of it. This means that if you have a very specific tool or equipment that you require to deliver the work, then you have the flexibility to do so.

Can adapt company culture and values easier

Adopting your company’s culture and values is much easier since they are not biased by the agency. This is beneficial when you have very specific values and culture that you need to build upon.

Best when hiring a large number of employees and HR costs can scale

The direct hire option will be best when hiring a large number of employees or you already have an HR function. This is because managing your hired VAs is like managing employees and will require full HR support.

Freelancer

The freelance model is when you hire independent contractors. The great thing about hiring freelancers is that you can select the number of hours needed for specific tasks. They can do lots of tasks using their hourly contract.

A higher degree of specialization

A Freelancer VA can be an expert in their field. For example, a Social Media Strategist or Social Media Managers, will manage your presence, exposure, engagement, and growth on your selected platforms. When hiring freelancers, ask for past experience, and testimonials, or assign small tasks to get a glimpse of what it would be like to work with them.

Short or Long-term commitments

You can hire an independent contractor for a specific project, or have them with a monthly retainer. It is flexible and allows you to hire for what you specifically need.

Best when hiring for one-time or specific tasks

Hiring a freelancer is best when looking for one-time or sporadic activities. Freelancers are usually serving a higher number of clients and you have less control. You are basically paying for a specific task that will be delivered within a given time period.

The best way will really be based on your situation

There is no right answer to what is the best option to go with. It depends on your needs. Our recommendation is to assess your needs, list your requirements and make the most educated decision.

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