VirtualEmployee.com v Elance: The Difference:

By: Garry Smith | Posted: 07th February 2009

VirtualEmployee.com and Elance are both outsourcing/offshoring service providers. With Elance and VirtualEmployee.com employers can outsource a wide variety of office based work and make significant savings. The similarities between VirtualEmployee.com and Elance however end there, for VirtualEmployee.com and Elance serve two very different outsourcing markets.



With Elance, one can outsource office based projects in a variety of different fields, (such as law, programming, accounts..etc) to freelancers from around the world. Elance is used by companies that have short term projects, (often one off projects) that need to be completed in a couple of weeks/couple of months. Although Elance successfully serves this market, the limitations of Elance are abundantly clear. The most evident drawback namely being, if your requirements are ongoing and long term. If you want to outsource work regularly or for instance need a programmer, engineer or graphics designer on a full time, permanent basis Elance would be unable to help.



Herein lies the biggest difference between Elance and VirtualEmployee.com. VirtualEmployee.com provides employers with their very own full time, dedicated and permanent employee rather than freelancers who work on a short term as provided by Elance. The key word here is "employee". Although you are outsourcing thousands of miles away to India, VirtualEmployee.com enables you to actually employ your very own employee who will work for you on a permanent basis. Unlike freelancers from Elance, your Virtual Employee works directly for you and with you, just like an employee would when working from your office. The only difference with a Virtual Employee is that they work for you remotely and use technology to bridge the physical distance. The working relationship between employer and Virtual Employee nevertheless is identical to any normal employer - employee working relationship. You instruct your employee as to their daily instructions, you work directly with your employee and your employee is responsible and answerable to you. Your employee will become a valuable and integral part of your organization and team, someone with whom you can build a long term relationship. With Elance freelancers working on a project by project basis the same level of rapport is difficult to develop.



This may at first seem unusual and unrealistic, how can I employ an employee all the way in India? How will I work with and how will the employee work for me when he is sitting thousands of miles away? With modern technology and the support/management/services VirtualEmployee.com provides, employing your very own employee from India is a straightforward process. "Please click here to read more about Employing a Virtual Employee - How it Works".



Hence the most significant difference between Elance and VirtualEmployee.com is that with the former you outsource and pay for the services of a contracted freelancer whilst with the latter you outsource and an employ your very own employee. With VirtualEmployee.com you can outsource your work on a continuous and permanent basis.



The way in which you work with a Virtual Employee as opposed to a Elance freelancer will also vastly differ. VirtualEmployee.com places great emphasis on creating a virtual environment whereby you are able to interact and actually work together with your employee. To achieve this goal VirtualEmployee.com provides your Virtual Employee with all the latest technology needed to create a virtual work place.



Another significant difference between VirtualEmployee.com and Elance is from where the Virtual Employees actually work. Elance is a portal through which businesses are linked to many freelancers throughout the world. The freelancers do not themselves work from an Elance office. All Virtual Employees however work directly from the VirtualEmployee.com office. This not only enables VirtualEmployee.com to provide employees with all the latest technology, we further provide your employee with management and technical support. All Virtual Employees are monitored at all times by a VirtualEmployee.com manager and we offer any support needed to you and your employ should it be needed at any time. In contrast to a freelancer from Elance, your Virtual Employee is not only accountable to you but additionally a VirtualEmployee.com manager will also be physically present monitoring your employee work. With VirtualEmployee.com being a US company and being present to resolve any issues this will give you a greater peace of mind when outsourcing your work. For instance, when dealing with issues such as data security VirtualEmployee.com can have your Virtrual Employee sign a non-disclosure agreement.





Summary:



The VirtualEmployee.com and Elance business models differ significantly. Elance has a network of freelancers based around the whole world. The Elance model focuses on outsourcing more short term projects. The opportunity of directly hiring an employee via Elance is not however possible.



The VirtualEmployee.com objective is the bridge physical distance through the use of technology and thereby create a virtual work place. With such a virtual environment it is possible to a) outsource work thousands of miles a away b) directly employ your own employee c) employ on a permanent and full time basis.





About The Author:



Gary Smith is an internet marketer working for the outsourcing company virtualemployee.com. You can find out more information by visiting the virtualemployee.com site.
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Tags: drawback, key word, programmer, relationship, engineer, full time, graphics designer, service providers, employer employee, term projects, elance, india