Do the Math First

When you reach a point that there is more work than you can do yourself or you are taking a look at cost containment in your books, you might be tempted to hire a full time role. But before you make the move to create a new role, consider the numbers and other choices that might be available.

It’s all math…

There are 52 weeks in a year which comes out to roughly 2080 hours based on a 40 hour work week.

Approximately 28% of the workweek is spent sending emails = 11 hours
https://ppm.express/blog/how-much-time-your-employees-spend-on-checking-emails/

Research indicates that workers are only productive for about 3 hours of the day. = 15 productive hours a week
https://socapglobal.com/2019/09/the-average-worker-is-only-productive-for-about-3-hours-a-day/

The biggest productivity hindrances on average were spent as follows:

  • 16% on emails;
  • 11% on useful and/or productive meetings;
  • 11% on administrative tasks;
  • 10% on wasteful meetings;
  • 8% on non-essential interruptions; and
  • 5% on everything else, i.e. coffee breaks, bathroom breaks, etc.

https://codebots.com/way-of-working/how-many-hours-a-day-are-workers-productive

52 weeks x 15 productive hours a week = 780 productive hours a year

$60,000 (general estimate) year wage / 780 productive hours = $76.92 hour

Then remove the 2 weeks paid vacation = 30 hours of productive time ($60,000 / 750 = $80 hour)

Then remove the monthly cost of providing health care = $600 mo x 12 =$7200 ($67,200/750 = $89.60 hour)

Freelancers only bill for productive hours

If you hire a freelancer for $75 an hour and are only paying for productive time, you will be getting a discount for the calculated hourly of having an in-house junior graphic designer on staff. You don’t pay them to answer emails, prepare their lunch, get coffee, talk to co-workers, go to team meetings. Just on-the-clock creation.

And, if you don’t need 750 freelance hours a year, you will have an even more significant reduction in cost.

What is your cost benefit breakpoint?

Like all cost benefit analysis, the balance is struck between how much work you need and how much it costs. Any time that you might consider the cost savings of creating an in-house role, consider the effectiveness of that model and how much work that you might need in a year.

You might find that the freelance model is a more versatile solution and a cost savings at the same time.