Virtual assistants are remote employees that more and more modern businesses are hiring. They’re the core of any enterprise that relies on remote employees, and they’re getting hired by some traditional businesses to complement their existing workforce. In order to understand why this is taking place and why you’ll see this phenomenon more and more often, here are the top five ways that virtual assistants can outshine traditional employees.
1. Cost-efficiency
First, you need to understand that virtual assistants are remote employees, which makes them incredibly cost-effective. You don’t need an office space, equipment, or an increase in utilities that would come from another person inhabiting the space and using the premises. You are also usually hiring them on a freelance basis, which means that they’re a much smaller burden on your payroll.
One of the areas where this is especially useful is when you’re trying to increase your workforce without increasing your overhead. Just think about it, you don’t even have to save the money. Just take all the money that you would otherwise save and pay your staff more or give them heftier bonuses. This will increase your talent retention and make them try more. It will increase their productivity more than any teambuilding activity your HR could come up with.
Now, the best way to control these costs is to actually set measurable results and see what you’re getting for your money. Keep in mind that if you’re paying based on performance, you might want to track your spending a bit more closely.
2. Flexibility and scalability
The biggest advantage of virtual assistants (and remote employees, in general) is the flexibility and scalability. This is the simplest way to expand or downsize your roster with as little administrative hassle as possible.
You can hire virtual assistants directly as freelancers and independent contractors, but you can also find an agency like rocketstation.com and hire them this way. The thing is that this gives you a simple solution that you can repeat over and over again. These contracts are much easier to terminate, which means that you can just “cancel the subscription” whenever you need or increase the number of assistants you need.
This is important because when people think about scalability, the majority of them are actually referencing growth. None of them ever consider the fact that they might experience a temporary setback and that they might have to downscale. The problem is that when you fire traditional employees, you won’t always be able to get them back (they’ll move on), and you’ll have to restart a costly hiring process.
3. Access to global talent
Virtual assistants are all over the globe, which means that you have a nearly-infinite talent pool from which to draw human resources. It means that you’ll have a more competitive hiring process and that you’ll have the privilege of picking the best from a multitude of people.
This also means that you get the privilege of hiring from areas with a lower purchasing power parity. You see, a small business usually has a limited budget, and top talent is never cheap. However, in a country with a lower living standard, people with degrees and a lot of work experience might find the pay you’re offering to be more than generous. Comparatively, you’re getting the best of the best while paying what you can actually afford.
So, why would someone so ideal be a virtual assistant and not an on-site specialist? Different people have different interests, and even in the US, almost half of employees would rather work from home than be promoted.
Keep in mind that this also helps a business that aims to expand to a foreign market. Getting a local means getting an invaluable insider, and this is a unique asset that might pay itself off quite significantly.
4. A boost in productivity
It’s never either a virtual assistant or a traditional employee. You always have an option to hire both. You can hire virtual assistants to take on administrative and menial tasks that would take your specialists away from their core tasks.
Imagine running a hospital. You have a surgeon who has an hourly wage of $250, and do you really want them to spend two hours filing reports? This is something that an administrator could do for them. Now, this might be an imperfect example, seeing as how you can’t make surgeons work non-stop; however, the rule is applicable in nearly every other situation.
Taking people away from their core responsibilities to do some basic research, fill in data in tables, or even answer emails is not just a waste of time. It’s also a break in their cycle of productivity. This is especially the case in creative tasks, which really depend on the inspiration. Allowing this moment to slip away because you expect them to do all this work is just wasteful.
5. Technological proficiency
A virtual assistant is more than just a remote employee. They’re a specialist for working in a modern workplace, and they’re great with all the tools most companies use. Sure, they might not have worked in Basecamp before, but they have worked in Trello and Monday, which means that they’ll transition pretty easily.
Entering every new enterprise requires a moment of adjustment and an onboarding process. However, for a virtual assistant, this process is usually shorter than you think. Because they’ve worked at quite a few enterprises, they’re used to endless onboarding cycles and will get adjusted faster than you think.
Also, they’ve already worked with so many email marketing automation platforms, scheduling tools, and CRMs that they won’t have trouble adjusting to any ERP that your enterprise might be employing.
What you can do to make this even faster and more efficient is prepare adequate onboarding materials.
Wrap up
As you can see, virtual assistants are cost-effective and scalable. This means that they’re actually a great and quick fix to any manpower shortage that your enterprise might be facing. At the same time, they’re not just a quick fix. They’re a decent long-term solution and can be used to alleviate your staff in moments when they’re overworked and close to burnout. The fact that they’re used to fast-paced tempo of a remote workplace is just one more bonus.
