by: Yvonne McCoy
A recent survey by Salary.com shows employee productivity may not be all that employers would like. According to the survey, “the average worker in the US admits to frittering away 2.09 hours per eight hour workday”. This figure does not include lunch breaks or other scheduled break-time.
In Wisconsin for example, for every eight hours work an employer pays for, the employee is likely to deliver less than six. Respondents admit to wasting 2.8 hours on activities such as:
Take out employer sanctioned time off such as lunch breaks, vacation time and sick leave and the productivity picture looks even worse.
According to the survey, the number one time-wasting excuse is “Don’t have enough work to do,” reason enough for many to consider outsourcing over hiring. Since a whopping 33.2% of respondents cited this as their biggest reason for wasting time, small business owners need to seriously consider whether they can keep a new hire gainfully employed before committing to that kind of expenditure.
With statistics like these, the argument for outsourcing has never been stronger. Many organizations are now realizing the benefits of outsourcing some functions historically fulfilled in-house. Even small business owners and solo entrepreneurs are finding that outsourcing is not only a viable alternative to hiring, it makes economic sense. Why hire an employee with all the associated expense when the work can be contracted out to a freelancer.
We are perhaps all familiar with traditional freelance workers such as Web designers, computer programmers, graphic designers, and book keepers. One of the fastest growing groups of seasoned professionals who have left the corporate world to become successful home-based entrepreneurs is Virtual Assistants
Jeff Mills, President and CEO of Goldmills Marketing LLC, frequently contracts Virtual Assistants to enable him to use his time more productively. “Using virtual assistants allowed me to free up my time making more money with serious clients, while the VA's were qualifying leads for my time, which in the end, helped me stay focused on spending time with the serious leads and not the tire kickers.”
“I have also used VA's to make calls to leads for me, do research, database entry, and a lot more things that take my time away from more important activities associated with my business,” adds Mills. Perhaps the greatest advantage for businesses like Goldmills Marketing is that they only pay for time on task and do not need to worry how to keep staff fully occupied during slack periods.
Considering the statistics above, it is likely that Virtual Assistants will continue to become highly sought after. They are undoubtedly a great solution for the small business owner who can not afford to directly hire an assistant and provide them with a desk, computer and all the paraphernalia that goes with an employee.
Just for the record, Wisconsin is not the biggest time wasting state. It ranks number four behind Missouri, Indiana and Kentucky.