Do you feel the pressure of rising costs and growing demands in managing your business operations? You’re not alone. Countless Canadian businesses are grappling with the decision to hire full-time employees or outsource field service work.
Let’s uncover the best solution to this dilemma and explore how your business can save money and enhance efficiency.
Quick Highlights
- Field service technicians are crucial in various sectors, ensuring smooth business operations.
- Full-time field service technician costs extend beyond their salary, including benefits, training, and equipment upkeep. On the other hand, Outsourcing can bring substantial financial benefits, including reduced overheads and access to specialized professionals, especially for large projects beyond the normal scope of your day to day business.
- With outsourcing, you pay for what you need, when you need it, enhancing cost efficiency.
- Use our handy Field Service Hiring Costs Calculator to estimate your potential savings through outsourcing.
Understanding Field Service Work
When we talk about field service technicians, we refer to highly skilled individuals who play a pivotal role in numerous sectors. These professionals are responsible for various tasks, such as maintaining and repairing critical equipment, installing essential systems, and delivering on-site support.
These technicians operate in various fields and are integral to structured cabling services, digital signage installation, VoIP installations, security camera installations, VSAT, and more. These services form the core of many businesses, especially in communication, ensuring smooth, uninterrupted operations.
As technology advances at breakneck speed, the field service sector is there to match its evolution. This means an increasing reliance on field service technicians to stay on top of these advancements and ensure seamless integration with your business operations.
To decide whether to hire in-house or outsource, we need a thorough understanding of the costs and benefits associated with each approach. So, let’s delve deeper to help you make an informed decision.
The Real Cost of Hiring Full-Time Field Service Technicians
At first glance, hiring a full-time field service technician might seem like the best solution. A dedicated, in-house professional could ensure operational continuity and provide a sense of security. However, when you look at the bigger picture, maintaining a full-time employee costs beyond just their salary.
A full-time field service technician’s compensation package isn’t limited to base pay. It also includes benefits, training expenses, equipment upkeep, and other overhead costs. For instance, the average hourly wage of a field service technician in Canada is around $29.11, translating to an annual salary of approximately $61,260.
However, this number can rise significantly in certain provinces. In Ontario, the average annual salary for a Field Service Technician is $75,243; in Calgary, Alberta, it’s even higher at $80,033.
When considering the total cost of hiring a full-time technician, it’s essential to factor in additional overheads.
- Benefits such as healthcare, vacation time, and retirement contributions can add up to 20-30% on top of the base salary.
- Expenses related to training and development programs, crucial to keeping your technician up-to-date with the latest technologies, could add an extra 5-10%.
- Equipment and maintenance costs, such as purchasing, upkeep, and replacing tools and technologies, may add another 10-20%.
If we take the base salary as $75,243 (as per Ontario’s average), after adding the costs of benefits (let’s assume 25%), training (5%), and equipment (15%), the total expense for a full-time technician would be approximately $105,339 per year.
NTFS Cost Savings
The average customer switching from full time technicians to hiring the NTFS team to take over installation services saved between $20,000 – $40,000. Curious to learn more? Try our price calculator to see what savings you can expect.
How Outsourcing Field Service Technicians Could Save You Money
The hidden costs of hiring full-time field service technicians can spiral out of control, leaving many businesses searching for a more budget-friendly alternative. Outsourcing field service tasks could be the answer. Let’s unpack the significant financial benefits outsourcing can bring to your business.
Reduced Overheads
Outsourcing to independent contractors or specialized companies like NTFS often results in significant overhead cost savings. Unlike full-time employees, the burden of benefits, training, and equipment upkeep is typically managed by the parent company of the outsourced technicians, freeing your business from these additional costs.
Pay for What You Need
The flexibility that outsourcing provides is another key advantage. You only pay for the services you need when you need them. This scalable model is an excellent solution for businesses looking to avoid the sunk costs associated with downtime or slower periods – a common issue with full-time hires.
Access to Specialized Professionals
With outsourcing, you can access a pool of seasoned professionals with specializations in various areas. Outsourced experts bring the latest knowledge and technologies in their fields regardless of your business requirements – be it structured cabling, digital signage installation, VoIP, or security camera installations.
While the exact savings from outsourcing can vary greatly depending on your company’s needs, you can understand how much you save using our handy calculator. This simple tool can provide you with an estimate, giving you a clearer picture of the financial benefits of outsourcing.
Hire the Best Field Service Technicians in Canada with NTFS
The future of field service work is exciting, but it also brings an increasing need for specialized knowledge and skills. Hiring full-time field service technicians may initially seem tempting, the financial picture becomes less rosy when considering the total cost of ownership.
That’s where outsourcing steps in. It’s an efficient and cost-effective alternative, allowing your business to tap into a rich pool of specialized professionals whenever needed without the burden of extra costs. You pay for what you need and nothing more.
Are you convinced but not sure how to get started? Consider partnering with NTFS. Our team of seasoned professionals is always up-to-date with the latest technologies and trends, ready to provide top-quality service. Explore what NTFS has to offer.
Also, don’t forget to check out our field service hiring costs calculator.
