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If you’re not 100% sure whether hiring full-time vs part-time is the best decision for your business, here’s a guide that will help you out:
The most obvious difference between full-time and part-time employees is how many hours they work.
The IRS classifies full-time workers as employees who put in at least 30 hours of work each week. Those working less than that count as part-time staff.
Because full-time employees (FTEs) work more hours, they have a bigger take-home pay and enjoy more benefits, like paid time off and health insurance.
Part-timers, on the other hand, aren’t usually eligible for benefits. When they do receive them, they’re not as comprehensive.
Full-time employees normally work 40 hours a week.
They can check off a lot of to-dos in that span of time—as long as you know how to delegate like a pro. If you master delegation, you’ll have independent employees who can run your business while you’re off enjoying some downtime.
In contrast, part-time employees can be less efficient than FTEs. This has a lot to do with their shorter work hours, but it can also be because they’re not as engaged or familiar with their responsibilities. As a result, your business might not hit targets.
Part-time workers generally have a lot on their plates. These individuals may be juggling multiple clients at once, or have to dedicate a big chunk of their time to dealing with family matters. Either of these reasons can impact their performance.
It’s different with full-time employees. They don’t normally work other jobs or have as many distractions and, because of that, they’re more laser-focused.
If you’re ready to expand your team while keeping costs manageable, you might consider hiring remote talent. For instance, you can hire Latin American, South African, or Filipino virtual assistants (VAs) or executive assistants (EAs) for full-time roles.
You can’t expect part-timers to be completely reliable when they have other side-gigs and priorities. You’ll find that some are hard to reach when you have a concern. Their quality of work may also be good one day but not quite up to standards the next.
One of the best benefits of full-time employment is that your staff can work on the same schedule. With a fixed schedule, it’s easier to plan meetings and get feedback on projects. Plus, it’ll be faster to resolve issues.
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Right off the bat, hiring full-time vs part-time employees sounds expensive. You’re not just giving full-time employees a bigger take-home pay—there are also government-mandated benefits, paid vacation leaves, and bonuses to consider.
But think of these additional costs as long-term investments.
Offering all these will help your employees stay longer, which is awesome because replacing even one member of your team doesn’t come cheap.
According to a study by the Society of Human Resource Management, finding a replacement can cost companies 6 to 9 months’ worth of that employee’s pay.
Let’s say an employee previously receiving $7,000 a month quit their job. Do the math, and that’s $42,000 to $63,000 for a new team member. Ouch.
Why exhaust a lot of energy into finding and training part-time employees when you can hire full-time workers with the same effort?
If that’s the case, you’re better off hiring the folks who will stick around. Starting over from square one makes it hard for a business to grow. You’ll have to shelve big projects just to onboard another new hire.
On the flip side, having seasoned FTEs on your team allows your company to push forward.
Eventually, you can expand your team and let your senior members take over some of the major operations.
Need help hiring talented remote workers for your team? You can always use a headhunter agency like Somewhere to make the process hassle-free.
This is another perk you only get to enjoy with full-time workers.
You can train your team members personally during their first weeks with you, and in the following months, you can sign them up for courses.
Constant training expands your employees’ skill set, which makes them better at their jobs and helps your business thrive.
Besides having subject matter experts to consult, investing in your employees' growth also prevents them from jumping ship. They’ll feel valued and you get to keep knowledge within the company.
You can’t say the same about part-timers who just come and go—and take their expertise with them.
It’s challenging to build company culture when all the people working for you are part-timers or freelancers. Because they aren’t always available, they can feel removed from your company—like there’s a wall separating them.
You’ll have better luck creating your work culture with full-time employees since they spend way more time with you. How do you build one that promotes a good environment and happy team members?
Don’t underestimate the importance of a positive company culture for your business. ADP Research Institute reports that employees who feel a strong connection with their employer are 75 times more likely to be engaged.
Hiring any employee is a huge decision to make, but enlisting full-time workers? Yeah, that takes the cake.
To know whether taking on full-time employees is the smartest choice for your company, ask yourself these questions:
You’ll need to pay full-time employees way more than part-timers, but if you don’t think you can afford a local full-time hire just yet, you can always outsource to countries like the Philippines.
On average, hiring remote Filipino staff who work 40 hours a week costs only around $9,000 to $12,000 a year.
The exact figure depends on their level of experience and scope of work, but either way, they’re still more affordable than local counterparts.
You may wonder if hiring full-time Filipino workers is worth it, and we understand where you’re coming from. Hiring individuals you haven’t met in person sounds risky, but lots of companies outsource to the Philippines for good reason.
To get a better idea of paying remote workers in the Philippines, download our free salary guide.
Think about the projects the employee has to do. If you’re looking for an admin assistant, it makes sense to hire someone full-time since the role involves a lot of calls, emails, and appointment setting.
But if you need a Pinterest assistant to help you out with posts once a month, it’s fine to hire a part-timer at the beginning. Later on, when you want to dedicate more time to building a community on Pinterest, that’s when you can make their role more permanent.
It all boils down to the amount of work that needs to be done.
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In the US, it’s a given to provide FTEs with benefits like social security, health care, and paid time off. Things are a bit different if you’re hiring remote Filipino, South African, or Latin American staff.
Since they’re located outside the US, these remote employees are technically classified as independent contractors.
This means that while they can render 40 hours of work each week like a full-time employee, US employers are technically not responsible for providing them benefits like insurance, healthcare, 401ks, and the like.
However, to attract and retain top talent, you might want to add perks on top of their monthly salaries.
Remember, you’re not the only one outsourcing work to these countries. Multinational companies, for example, use attractive benefit packages to snatch up top talent in the country. To stand out and get the best remote workers, you also need to offer good benefits to potential employees.
When your business is still in its early stages, there’s no pressure to hire full-time employees. But once the line between work and your personal life gets blurry, it’s a sign that you need extra hands on board.
Full-time employees spend a big chunk of their week making sure your business affairs are taken care of. Treat them the way they deserve to be treated—like valuable members of your team.
That said, you can make your remote employees happy by providing them with:
Again, for remote Filipino employees working 40 hours a week, you’re expected to pay between $9,000 to $12,000 a year—higher if you want professionals with more experience. You’ll also have to increase their rate if you want them to work in your time zone. The same goes for South Africa and Latin America.
There may be days that are busier than usual, so if your employees have to extend their working hours, compensate them accordingly. Typically, that’s an extra 25% of their hourly pay.
Also, don’t forget to pay your team on time! Set the right expectations regarding the frequency of your payouts. Filipino employees usually get paid twice a month — typically on the 15th and 30th of the month.
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As mentioned earlier, you’re not required to provide benefits like insurance and healthcare to independent contractors. However, voluntarily adding benefits will surely come in handy if you want to attract and keep top-notch employees on your team.
Employees need to maintain a work-life balance so they can avoid feeling burnt out. In the Philippines, workers have a right to 5 service incentive leaves (SILs). They can use these for vacation, when they get sick, or on days when they just need to take a break.
A lot of companies go beyond the 5 required days, though, so if you want to offer a competitive benefits package, you’ll need to keep up. 15 paid vacation leaves and 15 paid sick leaves would be a generous deal.
Filipinos also love their holidays. In fact, the Philippines ranks number 4 in countries with the most holidays. It’s up to you to choose whether your employees follow US or Philippine holidays, but set realistic expectations during Christmas. It’s like Thanksgiving for Filipinos, so plan accordingly and make sure tasks get endorsed before your staff requests a PTO.
Similarly, South Africa observes a mix of cultural and national holidays, including Human Rights Day, Heritage Day, and the Day of Reconciliation. Many South African employees also celebrate major religious holidays such as Christmas and Easter. It’s a good idea to align work schedules with their local calendar to ensure smooth operations.
Latin American countries, like the Philippines, place a high value on holidays and family celebrations. For example, Brazil celebrates Carnival, a multi-day event leading up to Lent, while Mexico observes Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), a deeply cultural event. Across the region, Christmas is a significant holiday, often involving extended family gatherings. Planning ahead for Latin American remote workers' schedules is essential to accommodate their traditions while keeping business priorities on track.
By respecting and acknowledging these holiday preferences, you can foster better relationships with your remote employees, ensuring they feel supported and valued.
Your working environment can make or break employee retention. People want to go to work inspired, but that’s a tall order in a remote setting.
Give your employees an avenue where they’re heard, supported, and feel like part of a community.
Make time for employee engagement. You don’t need anything fancy — a regular catch-up call or a greeting in Slack can already make a difference.
If you’ve got a bigger team though, ask someone from people management to take ownership of organizing virtual hangouts, game nights, or even in-person meetups. This will help boost team morale and make your employees feel like they belong in a community that genuinely supports their growth.
Letting your employees upskill and reskill is crucial to your company’s success. One key finding from LinkedIn’s 2021 Workplace Learning Report is that more companies are making training a higher priority. After seeing its impact, training is no longer a “nice to have” — it’s a must-have.
You can’t expect your business to grow if your team isn’t up-to-date on new trends and innovations in the industry. By investing in their training, they’ll be more engaged and you’ll be able to count on them to continue delivering quality work.
Today’s employees value more than just their salary. They also want a sense of fulfillment in the things they do. Once your team members feel stagnant, there’s a high chance they’ll start looking for other jobs.
The solution? Give them opportunities to shine.
Hiring full-time employees is tough.
Hiring full-time employees from halfway around the world? Even tougher — if you’re doing it on your own.
The good thing is you’ve got Somewhere on your side. As a headhunter agency, we make it easy to connect businesses with talented remote workers.
Here’s how our process works:
Tell us about the role you have in mind and the kind of employee you’re looking for. Be as detailed as possible. You can use this guide to create a detailed job description.
We’ll hop on a call and discuss the specifics. You’ll then be introduced to your project manager, aka your point of contact throughout the process.
Once that’s done, our talent scouts and assessors will start looking for your new full-time team member. They let each candidate undergo a strict screening process.
We’ll share with you a list of all the candidates that passed the screening. Then, you’ll choose the ones you will interview.
After you’ve chosen the best person to hire, we’ll hand off the relationship to you. You can now start onboarding them on your SOPs and expectations, as well as their responsibilities.
Choosing between full-time vs part-time employment is a huge decision for any company, but while FTEs seem more expensive at first glance, the payoff is worth it.
There are several benefits of full-time employment your business can enjoy. Full-time employees are consistent with their output, are more productive, and can help your business grow faster. As long as you treat them right and offer opportunities for growth, they’ll stay loyal to you.
Think it’s time to start hiring your first full-time remote employee? Get in touch with us today and we’ll help you look for the perfect candidate.
Full-time employees (FTEs) spend at least 30 hours working each week. FTEs are also entitled to paid time off, government-mandated benefits, and other perks.
Part-time employees work under 30 hours a week. Not all part-time jobs offer benefits, but some do provide basic government benefits.
Full-time employment is more common than part-time because it offers employees the following:
For employers, hiring full-time staff means:
Part-time employees may be less expensive than those working a 9 to 5 job, but some cons of hiring them are:
We'll find you amazing remote employees in the Philippines.
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