Working from home is undeniably the most comfortable setting for anyone regardless of their field. Nonetheless, comfort is a factor that causes some people to make wrong decisions in terms of their commitment to work. In some cases, as certain remote workers find it more convenient to work from home, they tend to forget to keep their professionalism in check.

Since it is much easier to skip work when you are not physically required to report, some misuse this privilege, to the point that it affects their employers negatively.

Yes, indeed, there are cases that are exceptions. For instance, you have to attend to an urgent matter or emergency. Moreover, if you are feeling under the weather, which is equivalent to being ineffective instead of functional if you will still work. These are situations that you cannot refute as good reasons to miss your shift. 

However, as a virtual assistant, you have to practice avoiding absences without valid reasons. One possible invalid reason is to prevent being called off due to a mishap with your work, so you decided to hide and escape reprimand. If you are a reliable VA, learn to own up your mistakes and surely, your client would prefer to rectify them with you. On the other hand, you will be absent simply because you are not in the mood to work. Also, you may be skipping work because you are going to miss your favorite television show or game.

When you start working as a VA, you should remember that you have committed yourself to assisting your client efficiently. Basically, being present is one component of being efficient. There are lots of things that could go wrong with you not being around.

Primarily, if you are not present, especially if your main role as a virtual assistant is to assist your client, you can possibly cause him or her to take over your tasks. This would make him or her lose time for more important matters, which could have been the focus of his or her day. Furthermore, your client may miss a lot of important things since one role of a VA is to keep your employer reminded of not only appointments, but tasks to do, as well. Some clients even tend to delay their projects for your input is highly crucial to accomplish them.

Secondly, if you make it a habit to miss work for no reason, you are also jeopardizing your team members’ productivity. If you are working with other remote staff as a team, most likely, your work can affect everyone else’s. For instance, their activity may be held off simply because you have not submitted yours yet. Alternatively, they may need to do extra work since you have left yours unattended.

Additionally, did you know that being present all the time will make you more contributive to the organization you are working in? The more you understand things that are occurring in the company, the better you can put your skills into use. If there are issues ahead, you can help solve it and an extra head would always be valuable.

All boils down to consideration when it comes to keeping your attendance record acceptable if not perfect. You have to consider not only yourself when working as a virtual assistant, but your client, co-workers, and company itself. Keep in mind that you may be reporting for salary to sustain your everyday life, but it does not mean that you should cause trouble for those, who are also doing the same.

Virtual assistants are often preferred by clients for they can be available regardless of location and timezone. As a remote worker, it is best to be a representation of what is expected of a virtual assistant – a better person to work with and someone that a client could rely on anytime.