There are thousands of great reasons to hire a personal assistant.
But, if you’ve ever wondered how much does a personal assistant cost (and will it fit into my budget?), you’re not alone.
One of the benefits of hiring a personal assistant is that having talented staff can make a massive difference to productivity. Of course, it’s essential to balance the books and determine what sort of assistant you can afford.
Today we’ll look at the average rates for a personal assistant. We’ll also consider the variables that impact your total costs.
What Roles Can a Personal Assistant Perform?
Typical personal assistant duties include:
- Administrative work
- Managing digital correspondence
- Organizing company calendars
- Providing customer support
- Website management and maintenance
- Digital marketing functions
Suppose you need an assistant with a specialized skill set. You could hire a freelancer with experience in your specific sector. Another option would be to opt for a general assistant to help with your admin tasks.
Factors Influencing the Cost of a Personal Assistant
Generally, rates range from $10 per hour for juniors or entry-level assistants. Accomplished professionals can charge as much as $50 an hour.
Here are a few of the things to consider in your assistant budget:
- What type of work do you need them to do, and how much experience does your ideal candidate have?
- Do you have prerequisites on the location your assistant works from and the hours they work?
- Is your position temporary or long-term, and what is the scope of the project they’ll be supporting?
Let’s go into each of those factors a little more to explain the wide range of personal assistants out there.
Personal Assistant Job Type
The best place to start your search for a PA is to detail exactly what you want them to do.
For example, will your assistant be a freelance virtual worker, one that will manage your social media and answer customer emails? Or do you need someone with a more specialized skill set, such as web development experience or content writing skills?
The more specialized the work, the higher the rate you’ll be expected to pay.
Virtual Assistant Experience Levels
The assistant’s work experience will also affect your cost.
As in any role, the more experience they have, the more they will charge. However, with more experience the PA will likely be more efficient at their job!
Businesses can pay a lower rate by hiring inexperienced assistants. But they will likely need to provide training and ongoing management for the first few months while their assistant gets up to speed
Employers looking to outsource critical responsibilities, such as social media marketing, often prefer to pay a little more. They tend to hire assistants with at least three years of experience, ones who already have spent time in similar positions before, since it means your new hire will be familiar with the social media landscape and know how to utilize the proper tools and resources to achieve the outcomes you’ve set for them.
However, suppose you only need an assistant to upload prepared posts and pick from a content catalog. In that case, you might be comfortable with a junior worker charging a substantially lower rate, since they will need to do very little in the way of actually making meaningful decisions.
Remote Personal Assistants vs. In-House Hires
Lots of companies hire remote freelance assistants since there are savings to be gained from sourcing help from other countries.
Full time in-house employees are certainly more expensive, especially when you factor in payroll costs, health insurance, pension benefits, holiday pay, and everything else that goes hand-in-hand with an employment contract.
If you decide that you’re happy with an independent freelancer, you have several other decisions to make:
- Could you hire an overseas personal assistant? Rates are usually much lower than in the US, but you’ll need to work out whether it will be practical having an assistant working in a different time zone.
- Does the role require your assistant to be physically in the office every day, or can you reduce expenses by hiring an independent professional?
- Will you want your assistant to work fixed hours and on set days, or do you need the flexibility to assign duties depending on organizational demand?
Keep in mind that if you decide to go the route of hiring a remote assistant, the key to having a successful working relationship is communication management.
There are hundreds of online tools to manage workstreams, assign specific jobs, and keep an ongoing task list, all of which help to ensure you maintain clear lines of contact.
Average Personal Assistant Pay Rates by Job Description
Below we’ll run through a few example job descriptions to illustrate the average costs.
Costs for an Administrative Personal Assistant
A virtual assistant dealing with routine admin tasks, such as keeping contact lists up to date and handling phone calls and emails, will charge around $10 to $20 an hour.
Costs for a Freelance Executive Assistant
Administrative services include all the general responsibilities above, plus additional higher-level functions, such as managing project schedules, preparing business proposals, and event planning.
An experienced executive assistant will charge around $30 to $40 an hour.
Costs of a Financial Assistant
Hiring an assistant to prepare invoices, sales tax reports, and manage bill payments is a great way to outsource bookkeeping, particularly if you have time limitations and don’t have an in-house finance team.
The average hourly rate for a virtual bookkeeping assistant ranges from $12 to $25.
With this extensive range of job titles, hourly rates, and additional variables (such as hiring in your own country or internationally), we’d recommend beginning by fine-tuning your job description and determining your exact requirements for the role.
Once you’ve identified the scope of the role, you’ll be in a great position to find yourself the perfect personal assistant for your business and know what hourly rates to offer for the skill set you need.
