Most executives who contact DonnaPro have already tried one of two things: hired an EA directly and absorbed the full cost, or made do without one and absorbed the full personal cost. This page is for the CEO who wants to make the decision properly before committing either way.
We've pulled together salary data from 19 European markets, broken out employer contributions by country, and built a year-one cost model for a direct hire versus a monthly retainer. The numbers are specific. The verdict is direct.
If you're a CEO or founder operating in Europe and you need C-suite-level executive support, this is the most complete comparison available.
An outsourced executive assistant is a senior-level EA who works remotely for your company through a specialist agency, rather than as a direct employee. Unlike a freelance virtual assistant, an outsourced EA operates at C-suite level - managing complex calendars, stakeholder communications, travel, and strategic admin - while the agency handles employment, compliance, and quality oversight. The model is distinct from hiring in-house because the cost, risk, and management overhead sit with the agency, not with you.
You're spending 15 hours a week on work your assistant should be handling. You know you need senior EA support. The question isn't whether - it's how.
Do you hire someone directly, with all the commitment that involves? Or do you work with an agency that places a dedicated executive assistant with you?
On the surface, in-house feels more controllable. In practice, it's usually slower, more expensive, and riskier than most executives expect - especially across Europe, where employment law and employer contribution rates vary significantly by country.
This page gives you an honest breakdown of both options: full costs, real trade-offs, and a clear verdict on who should choose what.
Most executives anchor on gross salary when they calculate the cost of a direct hire. That's the wrong number.
The true cost of an in-house executive assistant has three layers: the salary you see, the employer costs you're legally required to pay, and the operational overhead most people forget to count.
According to DonnaPro's research, the monthly cost of hiring a senior or top-tier executive assistant - before any operational overhead - looks like this across European markets:
| Country |
Professional Avg. (Senior EA) |
Top-Tier EA (C-Suite / Lead) |
Total Employer Cost (contributions included) |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | €5,417 | €6,667 | €8,065 |
| Belgium | €5,667 | €7,083 | €8,995 |
| Denmark | 58,333 DKK (€7,820) | 75,000 DKK (€10,050) | 82,500 DKK (€11,055) |
| Finland | €4,583 | €5,833 | €7,047 |
| France | €4,833 | €6,250 | €9,062 |
| Germany | €5,833 | €7,500 | €9,007 |
| Iceland | 1,083,333 ISK (€7,450) | 1,333,333 ISK (€9,170) | 1,418,000 ISK (€9,760) |
| Ireland | €5,417 | €6,667 | €7,410 |
| Italy | €4,583 | €5,833 | €7,583 |
| Luxembourg | €6,250 | €7,917 | €9,500 |
| Netherlands | €5,000 | €6,250 | €7,981 |
| Norway | 66,667 NOK (€5,750) | 83,333 NOK (€7,190) | 95,083 NOK (€8,200) |
| Poland | 15,833 PLN (€3,650) | 20,833 PLN (€4,800) | 25,099 PLN (€5,780) |
| Portugal | €3,333 | €4,583 | €5,671 |
| Spain | €4,167 | €5,417 | €7,077 |
| Sweden | 48,333 SEK (€4,250) | 62,500 SEK (€5,500) | 82,137 SEK (€7,230) |
| Switzerland | CHF 9,208 (€9,600) | CHF 11,250 (€11,730) | CHF 12,937 (€13,490) |
| UK | £5,417 (€6,320) | £7,083 (€8,260) | £8,273 (€9,650) |
| USA | $9,167 (€8,450) | $12,500 (€11,520) | $13,875 (€12,780) |
In every European market, you pay significantly more than the salary figure. Employer contributions - covering social security, pension, health insurance, and unemployment - vary substantially by country, and they are non-negotiable.
The spread is wide: a CEO in Switzerland pays contributions that bring a CHF 11,250/month EA to CHF 12,937/month. A CEO in France takes a €6,250/month EA to €9,062/month total. Denmark, by contrast, has relatively low employer contributions, but the base salary benchmark is among the highest in Europe.
The practical consequence: a French CEO and a Danish CEO both "hiring a €75,000/year EA" are not paying the same amount. Not even close.
These costs are real. Most people don't add them up until after a bad hire.
A CEO based in Germany, hiring a top-tier EA:
Monthly |
Annual | |
|---|---|---|
| EA salary (top-tier) | €7,500 | €90,000 |
| Employer contributions (~21%) | €1,507 | €18,084 |
| Salary + contributions | €9,007 | €108,084 |
| Recruitment (amortised over 2 years) | €500 | €6,000 |
| Equipment + software | €292 | €3,500 |
| Benefits + HR overhead | €333 | €4,000 |
| Total fully-loaded cost | €10,132 | €121,584 |
That's before the hire goes wrong. According to DonnaPro, the total cost of in-house hiring - once recruitment, training, overhead, and HR administration are factored in - typically runs 2–3× the apparent salary cost in the first year.
In Germany, with meaningful employer contributions and strong employment protections, year-one costs frequently exceed €100,000 for a single senior EA hire.
With an outsourced EA through a specialist agency, the cost structure is fundamentally different.
You pay a monthly retainer. That's it.
No employer contributions. No recruitment fee. No equipment costs. No HR overhead. No compliance exposure. No replacement risk.
DonnaPro offers two options depending on how much support you need:
Against the fully-loaded in-house cost of €9,007-€13,490/month in markets like Germany, Switzerland, or the UK, that's a saving of €6,300–€10,790 every single month - before accounting for the one-time recruitment and onboarding costs that don't exist with the agency model.
With DonnaPro, the retainer covers everything you'd otherwise manage yourself:
According to DonnaPro's client data, executives working with a dedicated outsourced EA reclaim an average of 60+ hours per month - time previously spent on email, scheduling, travel logistics, and reactive admin.
In-House EA |
DonnaPro Part-Time |
DonnaPro Full-Time | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly cost | €4,000–€13,490+ | €2,700 | €6,500 |
| Overhead (benefits, contributions) | +30–50% of salary | Included | Included |
| Recruitment time | 2–4 months | 0 | 0 |
| Recruitment cost | €5,000–€15,000 | €0 | €0 |
| Training / onboarding | Your responsibility | Handled by agency | Handled by agency |
| Sick day coverage | No coverage | Agency provides backup | Agency provides backup |
| Holiday coverage | No coverage | Agency provides backup | Agency provides backup |
| HR administration | Ongoing burden | None | None |
| Multi-country legal risk | High | None | None |
| Termination risk | Employment law applies | Switch easily | Switch easily |
| EA quality oversight | You manage it | Agency manages it | Agency manages it |
| Client retention rate | Industry avg: 60–70% | 91% annual retention | 91% annual retention |
| Total year-one cost | €60,000-€120,000+ | €32,400 | €78,000 |
This comparison isn't a case for outsourcing in every situation. There are genuine scenarios where a direct hire makes sense.
You should hire in-house if:
For most CEOs and founders operating across Europe with 1–2 EAs, none of these apply.
Most "hire vs outsource" content is written for the US market, where employer overhead is relatively low (FICA contributions run around 7.65%) and employment law is more straightforward.
Europe is different. Materially different.
The data from DonnaPro's salary research illustrates the spread: a top-tier EA costs €9,007/month fully loaded in Germany, €9,062 in France, €9,650 in the UK, and €13,490 in Switzerland. In France and Belgium, employer contributions alone push a €6,250/month salary to over €9,000. In Switzerland, contributions add more than CHF 1,600/month on top of an already high base.
For a founder running operations across multiple European markets - typical for DonnaPro clients - the compliance complexity multiplies. Each country has its own rules on contracts, contributions, leave entitlements, and dismissal procedures. Managing that in-house requires either specialist HR resource or expensive external legal support.
An outsourced EA through a European agency eliminates this entirely. The employment relationship sits with the agency. You get the output without the exposure.
This is one of the most searched questions in this category, and it deserves a direct answer.
Yes - with conditions.
The ROI calculation for a senior outsourced EA is straightforward if you value your own time honestly. If you're a CEO or founder earning the equivalent of €200–€500/hour in value creation, and you're spending 10–20 hours a week on work an EA should handle, the maths are not complicated.
At 15 hours/week reclaimed at €250/hour of CEO value, that's €3,750/week, or roughly €180,000 per year in recovered productive capacity. Against a monthly retainer of €3,000–€4,000, the payback is measured in weeks, not months.
The question isn't really whether it's worth it. The question is whether the EA you work with is good enough to actually take ownership - not just assist.
That's exactly what the agency model is designed to solve: the agency's incentive is to place someone who performs, because their retention depends on it. With a direct hire, that risk sits entirely with you.
Most EA agencies operate a marketplace model - you get matched to an available EA from a pool, with variable quality and no ongoing oversight.
DonnaPro operates differently.
Every DonnaPro EA is vetted for C-suite-level capability before placement - not just administrative competence. The ratio is deliberately capped at 2–3 executives per EA, so your assistant isn't spread across ten clients. A Quality Manager monitors each engagement to identify scope creep and boundary erosion before they become problems.
Two operational rules that most agencies don't have - and that directly explain the retention gap:
Mandatory deep work protection. Every DonnaPro EA has a minimum 2-hour uninterrupted block daily, no notifications. This isn't a perk - it's a requirement. An EA who is always half-distracted produces half-quality work. Most clients notice the difference within the first month.
Active overtime prevention. The industry default is that EAs absorb whatever comes. DonnaPro caps at 40 hours/week and actively discourages overtime - because a burned-out EA leaves, and when they do, you're back to square one.The result: 91% annual client retention against an industry average of 60–70%. That gap isn't an accident.
The result: 91% annual client retention against an industry average of 60–70%.
For most European executives, the outsourced model wins on cost, speed, and flexibility. The in-house route is not inherently better - it's just more familiar. Familiarity is not the same as optimal.
No - and the difference matters. A virtual assistant typically handles general administrative tasks at a generalist level. An outsourced executive assistant operates at C-suite level: complex inbox and calendar management, stakeholder communications, board prep, travel logistics, and strategic admin. The skill set and price point are different. For a full breakdown, see Virtual Assistant vs Executive Assistant.
DonnaPro offers two options: a part-time EA at €2,700/month and a full-time EA at €6,500/month. Both compare favourably to a fully-loaded in-house cost of €7,400-€13,490/month across European markets once employer contributions, recruitment, and operational overhead are included. In Germany, a top-tier in-house EA runs €9,007/month fully loaded; in Switzerland, €13,490. The year-one total for an in-house hire typically runs €60,000–€120,000+.
See the full Executive Assistant Cost Guide for country-by-country figures.
The impact varies significantly by country. In Switzerland, employer contributions add over CHF 1,600/month on top of a CHF 11,250 salary. In France, a €6,250 salary becomes €9,062 fully loaded. In Germany, €7,500 becomes €9,007. In the UK, £7,083 becomes £8,273. When you work with DonnaPro, these contributions are our liability - not yours. When you work with DonnaPro, these contributions are our liability - not yours. You pay one monthly retainer - €2,700 for part-time or €6,500 for full-time - regardless of which European market you operate in.
With DonnaPro, the typical time from engagement to a fully operational EA is 1–2 weeks. A direct hire takes 6–12 weeks from job posting to start date, then another 4–8 weeks to reach full productivity.
Yes - if the EA is genuinely senior and takes real ownership of their remit. DonnaPro clients reclaim an average of 60+ hours per month. At any meaningful executive hourly rate, the ROI is substantial. The more important question is whether the EA is operating at C-suite level or just handling task-based admin. The former creates leverage; the latter creates dependency without real time recovery.
With a direct hire, you face a notice period, potential severance obligations, and the full recruitment cycle again. With DonnaPro, if a match isn't working, replacement is handled by the agency - no recruitment fee, no legal exposure, no productivity gap that's solely your problem to manage.
Yes. Senior EAs operating at C-suite level manage confidential correspondence, investor communications, board materials, and personnel matters as a matter of course. NDAs and confidentiality agreements are standard. The outsourced model does not create a security gap versus in-house - in practice, quality agencies have more rigorous vetting processes than most internal HR teams.
This depends entirely on the agency. At DonnaPro, every client has their own EA - not a shared pool or rotating resource. The EA works exclusively within a small group of 2–4 executives, which preserves context, quality, and relationship continuity.
Varies by agency. DonnaPro typically operates on a retainer model with an initial commitment period. This is structured to ensure the EA has enough runway to become genuinely embedded and effective - not because we need to lock you in.
For European executives working with DonnaPro, this is rarely an issue - our EAs are based in Europe and operate within European business hours. For executives with significant US or Asia-Pacific exposure, overlap hours and asynchronous communication protocols are established at the start of the engagement.
Most CEOs who reach this page are paying - or about to pay - €9,000–€13,000/month for in-house EA support. DonnaPro's part-time EA costs €2,700/month. Full-time costs €6,500/month. Both include everything, both carry a 91% annual client retention rate, and neither involves a recruitment process, employment contract, or HR overhead on your side.
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