In our modern, electronic, fast-paced society where everything has to be done “yesterday”, business owners can sometimes find themselves lost or buried under piles of monthly reports, balance sheets, and similar seemingly crucial routine tasks which soak up the last drop of energy a person might have. While some try to accomplish all these tasks singlehandedly, seeing how they pile up is only exhausting and demotivating. Business owners have lately switched to Virtual Assistants, and the benefits have come along. Virtual Assistant is a quite new profession with enormous potential. The internet is full of positive feedback from people who have already tried working with a Virtual Assistant, saying that this decision was a real game-changer for their business. Here are 10 main reasons why your business could benefit from hiring a Virtual Assistant.
Lower recruitment and training costs
Think about all the times you had to hire a new person for your company: all those hours spent on selection, interviews, testing, and, later on, training a new employee. This process is not only long but also expensive, even though you might just be searching for an assistant to cover some basic administrative tasks. Hiring a Virtual Assistant is much simpler. The companies offering VA services have a broad range of specialists with different working experience, and they can do most of the work for you by selecting the most experienced candidates nationwide or worldwide. It not only reduces recruitment costs but also results in lower staff turnover.
No salary paid for breaks
When you hire an employee to work in an office for eight hours, Monday to Friday, you have to accept the fact that not all of that time will be spent on work-related tasks. With Virtual Assistants, it is a little bit different. As they usually work on an hourly basis, you don’t have to pay for lunch or coffee breaks, only for the actual time spent working. Before hiring your VA, count the monthly workload and set up a time-tracking software for the payment at the end of the month.
No need for an office
The keyword for this profession is “virtual,” meaning that an employee can work online from any place that has an internet connection and does not have to be physically present at the office. Your Virtual Assistant might not even live in the same country as you do, and the work will still get done. Such flexibility might benefit both the employer and the employee because the latter can choose a working space that best corresponds to his working style, be it a home or a co-working office, and the former can save a lot of money because there is no need to renting any space.
No need to set up working tools
While you might have to buy computer software for some specific tasks, this is it, what regard to the work equipment. As Virtual Assistants work from a distance and you don’t have to prepare a working space, there is no need to buy a laptop, a phone, headphones, etc. You can be sure that your VA already has all the equipment he needs for efficient work. Some of the Virtual Assistant companies even require applicants to send them a picture of their home office to make sure that a future VA is prepared for work.
You have too little work for a full-time employee
If you have some extra work that you don’t have time to do but not enough to hire someone for a full day, hiring a Virtual Assistant is the best option. Everyone would agree that it is hard to find a specialist who would be willing to work in an office for half a day or only a few hours on some specific tasks, but this is common among Virtual Assistants. Flexibility is one of the essential characteristics of this profession, so the same person can work three hours a day for one company, doing administrative tasks, and spend the remaining five hours handling marketing-related tasks for another company.
You need an employee with an area of expertise
If you find yourself in a situation where you not only lack workload for a full-time employee but you also need a specialist in a particular field, hiring a Virtual Assistant can be the best solution. Most Virtual Assistants have their area of expertise, and apart from arranging meetings and booking flights can help with tasks that require extensive knowledge and skills.
Virtual Assistants are always available
While office employees often work from 9 to 5, Virtual Assistants are very flexible and can work with projects in a different time zone. It is also easier to reach them if some unexpected tasks come up and it is urgent to accomplish them.
You can pass the administrative tasks
Your Virtual Assistant can manage the most basic things for you, such as deal with bookings or reservations, manage your e-mails, schedule appointments, handle social media, etc. These are easy tasks that sometimes eat up precious hours you could spend working on important projects, drawing new business strategies or simply getting inspired for new professional challenges. It is smart to leave yourself more time to accomplish some tasks and, in this way, guarantee quality, and that is only possible by handing over part of the workload.
You can relax
There aren’t many people who perform well under pressure; most of us start fixating on simple tasks and procrastinating on crucial work. Passing some of your workloads to someone else frees you from certain overtime work, which means that you will be able to relax, spend more time with your loved ones, develop as a professional or get a hobby. Even the best professionals in their fields need time to rest and recharge to be productive.
Confidentiality is guaranteed
Some business owners have doubts about the level of confidentiality one can expect from independent contractors who sometimes have to work with sensitive data. Although such doubts are reasonable, you can always ask your Virtual Assistant to sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement that would guarantee that your commercial secrets are safe. Also, you should limit access to sensitive data to a minimum so that your virtual assistant would only be able to access the information he needs to complete the tasks at hand.
Conclusion
There is no doubt that in our virtual civilization, there will be more and more people working from a distance. The most progressive companies are already using their services and counting the benefits. Think of this as a new stage of your enterprise’s development, and hire your first Virtual Assistant today.