Recently, the team at Automate Everything had a discussion regarding the relative benefits and drawbacks of each of these approaches, and some of the highlights include:
Benefits of Full-Time Employees:
- Increased investment and productivity
- Greater stability through long-term committment
- Employee benefits can improve morale and retention
- Improved performance through ongoing training and skills development
- Greater control over workforce
Drawbacks of Full-Time Employees:
- Higher cost
- Less flexibility, especially when considering employment legislation
- Reduced employee agility, when compared to part-time or contract workers
- Administrative burden, when considering hiring, managing, and training staff
Benefits of Contractors/Freelancers:
- Flexibility, when considering the ’elastic’ nature of the workforce
- Cost savings, especially for short-term projects
- Specialised skills, which may be more difficult to acquire otherwise
- Reduced administrative burden
- Greater agility, as workforce can change in response to changes in business conditions
Drawback of Contractors/Freelancers:
- Lack of commitment, as contractors may not be committed to long-term success or goals of company
- Limited control, as contracts may not facilitate the level of oversight necessary to exert control of project outcome
- Lack of continuity, as the knowledge often leaves with the contractor
- Legal and compliance issues, there are often legal issues associated with classification of workers and employment laws
Benefits of Fractional DevOps, by Automate Everything:
- Fanatical focus on Cloud Cost Optimisation, and Automating Everything (it inspired our name, after all!), and Customer Experience
- Cheaper than alternatives, with none of the overhead
- Available 24/7, which means we have a vested interest in building your infrastructure to last (Made By Automate Everything!)
- Full Continuity, as we internally knowledge-share, and implement widely used tools and services
- Context aware, as we aim to learn everything necessary to support and understand your unique business needs from day one
- Flexible, as you can terminate your contract with us at any stage if you’re unhappy with our service
- Stability, as we use industry-proven technologies and automation, backed by experienced engineers, to ensure things run like clockwork
- As we provide 24/7 support, and aim to retain your business long term, we have a vested interest in building it to last
- We offer a variety of payment plans, including extremely attractive pricing structures for new startups and small businesses
Drawbacks of Fractional DevOps, by Automate Everything:
- You’ll kick yourself for not engaging our services sooner
- You’ll miss the ’learning opportunities’ other co-founders suffered by employing other solutions
- You’ll network less with VCs, as your business will scale more economically, making your first presentation more compelling
- We’re trying to come up with drawbacks, but it reminds us of the infamous HR question: “What are your top 3 strengths and weaknesses?”
All in all, we’ve done everything we could think of to de-risk your journey with us, but if you think of other areas we can improve, we’re open to that too. We want to ensure our customers always get incredible value, fanatical service, and sing our praises from day one… its the cheapest form of marketing, we’re told!
