Virtual Assistant or Part-Time Employee?
By CodexierPublished 6 min read
The question usually arrives as a salary versus an hourly rate, and answered that way the employee often looks cheaper. Add what a Swedish employer actually pays and what an employee costs when there is no work that week, and the picture changes. This guide lays out both sides properly, including the cases where hiring is clearly the right move.
Full cost of an employee
| Cost line | Part-time employee | Virtual assistant service |
|---|---|---|
| Base pay | Monthly salary for contracted hours, paid whether or not there is work | Hourly, only for hours worked |
| Employer contributions | Just over 31 percent on top of salary for most employees | None; included in the rate |
| Holiday | Paid holiday or holiday pay of 12 percent, plus cover during absence | None; you use another assistant or pause |
| Sick pay | First two weeks paid by you, minus the waiting deduction | None |
| Pension and insurance | Occupational pension if agreed, work injury and group insurance | None; the provider carries its own |
| Equipment and tools | Computer, phone, licences, workplace | Provider's own |
| Onboarding and management | Your hours, every week | Your hours in the first weeks, then a brief routine |
Rates for employer contributions and holiday pay are set by Swedish law and change; check Skatteverket for the current figures before you build a budget.
Employer contributions and holiday pay
The two items owners most often forget are also the largest. Employer contributions are paid to Skatteverket on top of gross salary every month, and for most employees they add just over 31 percent. Holiday is a legal right: at least 25 days a year for full time, proportionally for part time, and if it is not taken it is paid out as holiday pay at 12 percent of earnings. A part-time employee on a modest salary therefore costs the company noticeably more than the number on the contract, before you count a desk, a laptop and a licence for every tool.
Against that, the hourly rate for an assistant service is the whole cost. No monthly reporting to Skatteverket, no payroll run, no holiday planning. For a company without other employees, avoiding the first payroll altogether is a real saving in admin, not just in money.
Flexibility and notice periods
Employment in Sweden is protected. That is right for employees and a real cost for a small company whose workload is uneven. An employee on a permanent contract has a notice period of at least one month, and ending employment requires objective grounds or a redundancy process. Temporary contracts help, but they have their own limits and convert to permanent after a set period.
- Seasonal or project-based admin: the service scales up in busy months and down to zero in quiet ones; an employee is paid throughout.
- Growth you are not sure of: start with hours, convert to a hire when the volume has been stable for two quarters.
- Skills that vary: an assistant service can put different people on inbox work, data entry and simple bookkeeping; one employee is one skill set.
- Ending the arrangement: a service ends per the agreement; an employment ends per the law.
Management and training time
The cost nobody puts in the spreadsheet is your own time. An employee needs onboarding, weekly direction, feedback, development conversations and cover when they are away. Some owners enjoy that and are good at it; many small-business owners hired to get time back and found they had bought a new job. An assistant service moves most of that to the provider: the person is already trained in the tools, the routines are documented, and if they leave, the provider replaces them.
What you still do with a service
Write the routines once, approve drafts, answer questions in a shared channel, and review a short weekly summary. An hour or two a week after the first month.
What you do with an employee
All of the above, plus payroll, holiday, sick leave, equipment, a workplace, performance and development, and finding the next person when they move on.
When hiring is the better choice
We sell the service, and there are clear cases where it is the wrong answer. Hire when the work is steady at twenty hours a week or more and you can see it staying that way; when the role needs to be physically present, handling post, deliveries or visitors; when the person will represent you to customers in a way that requires belonging to the company; when the tasks need deep company knowledge that builds over years; or when you want to develop someone into a broader role. In those cases an employee is cheaper per hour at volume and gives continuity no service can match.
Use the service when the volume is uncertain or under fifteen hours a week, when the work is procedural and documented, when you do not want to run payroll, or as a bridge while you find out what the job actually is. Many companies do both: an assistant service for the variable load and, later, a hire for the stable core. The task list that transfers cleanly is in our delegation guide, the hourly rate and what it covers is on the service page, and a short call with your weekly hours estimate is enough to tell you which side of the line you are on.
Frequently asked questions
What does an employee really cost in Sweden on top of salary?
Employer contributions of just over 31 percent for most employees, holiday pay of 12 percent or paid holiday, sick pay for the first two weeks of any illness, occupational pension and insurance if agreed, plus equipment, tools and the time you spend managing. Skatteverket publishes the current contribution rates.
At how many hours a week does hiring become cheaper?
It depends on the salary you would pay, but for procedural admin the crossover is typically somewhere between fifteen and twenty steady hours a week. Below that the service wins on cost and flexibility; above it, with stable volume, an employee wins on cost per hour and continuity.
Is using a virtual assistant service a hidden employment?
Not when the provider is a registered business with F-tax that supplies the service, sets its own working methods and can substitute people. The risk of disguised employment arises with a single individual working only for you, under your direction, on your equipment, for a long period. A service arrangement with a company avoids that.
Not sure whether to hire or buy hours?
Bring your estimate of weekly admin hours to a fifteen-minute call. We will do the full-cost comparison with you honestly, including the cases where we would tell you to hire.
Book a free 15-minute call