03 Apr Retainers vs Pre-Paid Time

Retainers – When Are They The Appropriate Choice

When you have decided that you are going to hire a virtual assistant, the question you will likely need to answer is whether you want to pre-pay for a specific number of hours of work, or if you will need a monthly retainer. Which one you select depends on the work you are hiring the virtual assistant to help you with. If the work is for one-time projects, then there’s a chance that pre-paying for a specific number of hours of work may be the best solution. However, if you need a virtual assistant to help you with recurring on a monthly basis then paying a monthly retainer is possibly the better option.

The key difference between pre-paying for hours and having a monthly retainer is that time not used during the month if you are on a monthly retainer would likely not roll over to the next month. Also, the monthly retainer would ensure that the virtual assistant would guarantee time for your work is available. Pre-paying for hours means that unused time would roll over to the next month, but if you need additional hours afterward they may be not be guaranteed to be available.

Examples of Tasks

Below are examples of work tasks that might require a monthly retainer or pre-paid hours.

Monthly Retainer:

• social media content creation, management, and engagement
• website maintenance
• blog post writing
• scheduling appointments
• bookkeeping

Pre-Paid Hours:

• document design eg white papers, brochures, reports
• landing page design eg forms for white paper downloads, webinar registration pages
• evaluating and implementing new software solutions eg task management tools, HRIS tools, information management/team collaboration tools
• making travel arrangements
• data entry and video transcription

Need More Information?

Do you need more information on retainers? Contact us!