Hiring a receptionist: what does it cost?
The difference is in what you pay for: with a person you pay for hours, including the hours when the phone doesn't ring, and with a service you pay for calls. A part-time receptionist working twenty hours a week costs roughly €1,500 to €2,000 a month in wages plus employer costs — before holiday pay, pension and sick pay.
For a one-person business where the phone rings a few times a day, that mostly means paying for silence. That's why most freelancers end up choosing not an employee but a service that charges per call. Below are the four options side by side, with where each fits best.
The wage figures are indications to give an order of magnitude, not a quote. What you pay depends on the collective agreement, the pay grade and the number of hours. These are Dutch figures.
Four ways to get your phone answered
1.Hiring someone
What you pay: Hours, whether the phone rings or not. For a part-timer working twenty hours you're looking at roughly €1,500 to €2,000 a month in wages plus employer costs — and that's before holiday pay, pension and sick pay.
Best for: When the phone really rings all day long and there's more to do than answer it: post, the calendar, welcoming customers.
2.A temp or on-call worker
What you pay: An hourly rate higher than a wage, in exchange for not being tied down. With an agency, a margin comes on top.
Best for: For a peak you can see coming: a season, a campaign, someone who's off sick.
3.A virtual assistant
What you pay: Usually per hour or through a block of prepaid hours. Often does more than just the phone, but isn't sitting ready at the moment someone calls.
Best for: For work that can wait: inbox, admin, calendar. The phone is harder, because it rings when it rings.
4.A telephone answering service or AI receptionist
What you pay: Calls instead of hours. A subscription with a bundle, and you pay nothing extra for the hours when it's quiet.
Best for: When the phone rings irregularly and above all you don't want to miss anyone. This is what we do.
Receptionist, telephone secretary, virtual assistant — what's the difference?
In practice these words get mixed up, which is confusing when you're comparing. "Telephone secretary" is an older term for someone who answers your phone without sitting in your office; it's used for both a hired person and a service. A "virtual assistant" usually does broader work — inbox, admin, calendar — but isn't necessarily ready at the moment someone calls.
So the only question you need to ask isn't what it's called, but how it's charged: per hour or per call? That decides whether you're paying for availability or for work.
When a person really is better
If there's more to do than answering — post, receiving visitors, a till — then you're not hiring a receptionist but an employee, and this is the wrong comparison. And for calls that are out of the ordinary, a person is better: an angry customer, a story that goes off in every direction, something that needs negotiating. We'd rather tell you that now than after you've paid for a month.
Where it does work is the everyday stuff that comes up most often: answering, finding out what someone wants, transferring the call if it's urgent, and putting an appointment in your calendar.
Further reading
- Answering service — what it costs and what to look out for when choosing.
- Virtual receptionist — when it's a business number that always has to be answered.
- What a telephone answering service costs — the amounts per call volume.
Or hear it for yourself: call +31202140808 and pretend to be a customer.