How many outsourced seats does a small business need?

Key takeaways

To decide how big an outsourced team should be, multiply weekly volume by average handling time, add about 15% to 20% for peaks and breaks, and divide by the hours in a seat. Most UK small businesses start with one part-time or full-time seat and add a second for cover once the process is stable.

• Hours needed: weekly volume multiplied by handling time.
• Add 15% to 20% for peaks, breaks and quality checks.
• A full-time seat is about 40 hours a week. A part-time seat is 15 to 20.
• Ask how cover works when a one-seat team is on leave.

What is a seat in outsourcing?

A seat is one unit of outsourced capacity, usually one person working a set number of hours a week on your work. A full-time seat is typically about 40 hours. A shared or part-time seat is a fraction of that. Seats are the commonest way providers price and size managed teams.

• How outsourcing helps small businesses scale without hiring
• BPO pricing models explained

How do you calculate the seats you need?

Calculate seats from the work, not from a guess. Count how many items arrive in a typical week, time a sample to find the average handling time, and multiply. Add an allowance for peaks and breaks, then divide by seat hours. Do it for each process, because handling times differ widely.

• 1. Weekly volume: for example 500 emails.
• 2. Handling time: for example 5 minutes each.
• 3. Hours: 500 multiplied by 5, divided by 60, is about 42.
• 4. Add 15%: about 48 hours.
• 5. Seats: 48 divided by 40 is 1.2, so one full-time and one part-time.

• How to measure team capacity before you outsource
• Demand forecasting for small teams: plan capacity ahead

Why is one seat rarely enough?

One seat is a single point of failure unless the provider guarantees cover. People take holiday and fall ill wherever they work. Ask whether a trained backup steps in, and whether that person has handled your work recently. Two part-time seats can give better coverage across the day than one full-time seat.

• Key person dependency: when one person holds it all
• Holiday and sickness cover for small teams

What does a small outsourced team cost?

Cost follows hours. At an indicative £12 per hour, within the £9–£18 market range for managed offshore teams, a 20-hour seat is about £1,040 a month and a 40-hour seat about £2,080. Onshore providers are indicatively £20–£35 per hour. These are market illustrations, not GBL prices.

• BPO cost per hour in the UK

Should you start smaller than the calculation?

Often, yes. Starting at about two thirds of the calculated hours on the simplest slice of the work lets the process settle before full volume arrives. Your team keeps the rest for a few weeks. Add the remaining hours once quality checks pass, usually within the first month or two.

• Scaling an outsourced team up and down: how it works

When is the calculation misleading?

The calculation misleads when handling times vary a lot or when work arrives in bursts. Ten complex cases can take as long as a hundred simple ones. If demand is concentrated in a few hours of the day, you may need two people at once for a short period even though total hours suggest one.

• How much spare capacity should a small business carry?

What does this look like in practice?

A pattern we see with UK firms asking for a quote: the request is for a full-time person because that is what a hire would be. Counting the work shows 22 hours a week, concentrated in the mornings. A part-time morning seat with a trained backup covers it, and the remaining budget stays unspent.

• See client work
• BPO Solutions for UK businesses

Team size checklist

Gather these before asking for a quote.

• Weekly volume for each process.
• Average handling time from a timed sample.
• The busiest hours of the day and days of the week.
• The share of complex cases.
• The response time you want to promise.
• How cover should work during absence.

• What should you outsource first?
• BPO contract terms to check before signing

Next step

Send us your weekly volumes and a rough handling time for each process. We will calculate the hours and suggest a starting team shape.