Tag: outsourcing

Why Consider Having Employees Working Remotely

Why Consider Having Employees Working Remotely

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There are always doubts in the mind of an employer whenever being offered to take in people working remotely. Most common factors that hold them back is their lack of experience in having a home-based worker, security, and efficiency of the employee. However, have you ever wondered why more and more organizations are taking advantage of employing remote workers? Most likely, they have reaped benefits in the long run, which kept them in adapting the new outsourcing option for companies.

If you need support in making a decision, it is best you learn the reasons why you should take into regard employing home-based workers or virtual assistants, as they are commonly called. Given below are a few that would help:

Reduction in Overhead Expenditures. Simply imagine having a smaller workspace or office without losing the people vital for your operations. It only implies lower costs on your part. Since your employees would be working at home, office equipment would no longer be in your inventory. Furthermore, you could even save on power and telephone bills.

More Local Market Insights. By having people from various places would give you the advantage of getting wider local market insights. Take note, as well, that home-based workers or freelancers often train to take in new knowledge and ideas. This is due to the competitive online industry. That being said, you could anticipate all-encompassing learning from them.

Better Performance From Employees. A worker’s performance is greatly affected by how convenient his or her situation is relative to his or her job. If they will continue to suffer from commuting nightmares, their performance at work could also be affected. Additionally, it was revealed by a SurePayroll study that 61% of 2,060 surveyed professionals found their loud colleagues as the biggest office distraction. As a result, their productivity is getting killed.

Thus, if you consider employing virtual assistants, such inconveniences will never be contributing factors in their skillfulness.

Environmental Movement. By making your operations more virtual over time, you will be able to make your company a role model for other businesses. This is due to the fact you find even the simplest means to help the environment from damages often caused by car emissions.

Future Preparation. More and more employees, especially the young ones, are becoming outspoken with their need for a work-life balance. In other words, by starting to take in remote employees, you could adapt to the younger workers’ interests.

More Effective Communication. Coordinating with remote workers would never be an issue even if you are not together personally. There are tons of software applications that make communication a breeze. As long as both of you have internet connections, extra fees on local calls can be avoided as well.

Getting the Best of Talents. Another reason to consider having employees working remotely is your better reach to best of talents. Since most home-based workers have worked with various clients worldwide, adjusting to a new environment would not be an issue with them at all.

Additionally, since the freelancing industry allows one to enter any field of work as long as he or she could be trained, people working online tend to have more job experiences. There are even those proficient in both general office and technical work. Therefore, you could anticipate a wider skill set from remote workers.

Home-based workers are the future of your organization. Instead of having doubts, why not focus on the perks of getting your team upgraded? It is time to move your business forward.

 

 

 

What Flexibility Means With Having a Virtual Assistant

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You would definitely encounter lots of businesses or individuals, who are hiring virtual assistants, to claim that they found the flexibility of a VA highly advantageous for their needs. However, you may have a vague understanding of this matter. You see, there are two primary things that could explain why a virtual assistant is versatile.

To begin with, a virtual assistant is flexible in terms of skills. In other words, you would not have an issue in having a well-rounded VA, either in terms of administrative or non-administrative tasks. Unlike office-based employees, virtual assistants are often necessitated to do various tasks for one client. One can be very helpful in clerical work, marketing, graphic design, and even website maintenance all at the same time. For certain, finding one is quite difficult if you are in a typical office setting.

The aforementioned setup is common among virtual assistants and their corresponding clients. This does not imply that the VAs are treated unfairly or being assigned with too many activities to handle. One can do a lot of things by simply dedicating specific time for each. For instance, there are scenarios wherein a virtual assistant would carry out social media management for three days a week and focus on administrative work for the remaining two days of the work week.

Another amazing thing about virtual assistants’ flexibility in relation to skills is how one’s educational background does not influence what they can do as a remote worker. Did you know that there are VAs at present, who finished an arts-related bachelor’s degree but can also handle IT work? This is pretty astonishing for some, but their experience outweighs their educational background. They become equipped with necessary abilities through working with various clients of differing requirements.

Apart from the skills point of view, a virtual assistant may also be flexible in terms of schedule or shift. There is none more adaptive to any culture or professional environment other than a VA. A client is never required to adjust to their VA’s time zone. Instead, it is the other way around. Despite the difference in location, a virtual assistant must follow the current time zone of his or her client. This is regardless of working on a night shift basis.

From the given facts, it is irrefutable that having a virtual assistant is a great benefit for someone, who needs an employee that could comply with most of his or her requirements. Virtual assistance successfully breaks down the limitations that are often met in an office-based setting. This is the reason why, soon enough, more corporate entities will come to appreciate the essence of hiring remote workers.

Virtual Assistant Skills Are Best Gauged Through Work Than Words

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When selecting a virtual assistant, you definitely have this set of standards to follow or requirements in mind. Hopefully, the list of yours does not specifically include the need for someone, who is good at speaking in English verbally (except if you need a telemarketer or someone who would speak on your behalf). Be reminded that virtual assistant skills are not limited to good English verbal communication skills.

Indeed, it is quite difficult to work with someone, who cannot communicate well. Nonetheless, remember that the entirety of a person’s performance should not be measured based on how they speak. In the end, it is all about their output or how they carried out their job.

The aforementioned statement implies that if you are going to hire a virtual assistant, you should not depend solely on how a person speaks well during the interview. You should focus on their background or on what they have to offer.

Prior to rejecting an applicant after an interview given he or she does not possess the accent you prefer, check out his or her profile first. Find out if he or she has a considerable experience you need. A good example is when searching for a web developer. Determine if the applicant has your specified years of experience in the field instead of paying particular attention to his or her grammar.

Never give in to an applicant right away due to his or her interview answers. Take note that you could already check out possible interview questions online.

If you are really concentrated on how a person explains his or her capabilities, then dig deeper when questioning. Instead of inquiring if he or she could do something, try out to be technical. For instance, if a person is really good in calendar management, he or she will not simply say he or she will ask for the date and time of a meeting to be scheduled. The applicant will explain that as a virtual assistant, he or she will have to check the availability of the calendar’s owner and avoid conflicts.

Based on the example above, you definitely do not need someone with your similar accent if website development is concerned. The person you need will not even have to speak with anyone other than you or colleagues to complete his or her work. Simply give him or her inspirations for the work, specifics on what you want to see on your website pages, and other requests, and you are good to go.

It is understandable that you are quite doubtful to give a person the job based on his or her resume or curriculum vitae alone. Then, why not give him or her a chance to prove himself or herself? Freelancers are totally open for trials. After assigning the virtual assistant a task to work on for a short period, and if he or she did not deliver as necessary, then you could decide to put a halt on getting services from him or her.

You must remember that English cannot always be a standard in appraising someone’s capability. A person, who comes from a French-speaking country, can be really good in digital marketing without necessarily having to be great in English.  In contrary, a person speaking English fluently cannot always assure a seamless work in search engine optimization.

Try changing how your selection of virtual assistant is done going forward by considering the facts above. For certain, you will end up with better talents for your company.

Why Hire a Virtual Assistant

Why Hire a Virtual Assistant

 

With the rise of technology, there is no doubt that soon enough, even your workforce will be composed of people who are carrying out their tasks from home.

In truth, did you know that 69% of large companies (composed of more than 501 employees) actually allow their employees to work remotely? This is based on uSamp’s recent study on the productivity or disruptiveness of the virtual office place. By implication, you can say that more and more firms are now discovering the advantages of having virtual staff.

One of the most commonly outsourced virtual workers is termed as a Virtual Assistant. Probably, you have come across this job title and possibly disregarded it. Nonetheless, you may have missed a gem that could actually contribute to your business growth.

You will definitely ask why. Then, to be straightforward, provided below are top reasons why you should hire a Virtual Assistant or have such person be part of your team:

You Will Save Cost. This is one of the top reasons why executives, businessmen, and rising entrepreneurs prefer to have a Virtual Assistant rather than an in-house employee. Do you know that in-house staff cost you more? Why? Good answers are the insurance and training.

At present, you can hire a Virtual Assistant and pay by the hour. In other words, you do not have to allot a certain amount of salary every month. There are even VAs who can work for a fewer number of hours when necessitated. Conclusively, you only pay for the work you have required.

Furthermore, there will no longer be office overhead for you to worry about. This is palpable given VAs work from home. No more finding a place for your staff.

You Can Get All Things Done With Just One VA. Virtual Assistants are not constrained to do basic administrative tasks, such as scheduling meeting, managing your e-mails, or answering inquiries from your clients.

They are highly trainable, giving you a chance to let them do even unprecedented tasks when needed. You simply have to explain what they have to do and you are set. All it takes is proper training.

Most VAs are also well experienced in different fields. For instance, there are ones who have background in marketing. With such qualification, you would definitely have no issue having such VA work with you in widening your exposure to your audience.

You Are No Longer Boxed With a Single Schedule. VAs are experienced working at different time zones and anytime possible. They could even be available more than eight hours when negotiated. Since they already have the convenience of working from home, these assistants do not mind working beyond normal full-time employee’s hours.

You Secure Your Productivity. Since you can already let go of your administrative tasks, which are often routine and time-consuming, you would definitely find a lot of time to spend on more important activities.

For instance, if there is an activity you definitely want to include in your firm to make it grow, you could now focus on it given a Virtual Assistant can handle your previous tasks.

Since you will also be able to concentrate on the core functions of your business, you will definitely have more means of keeping track of your progress.

You Will Have More Me-Time. There is no doubt that having someone do as much as half of your daily tasks will give you a reason to go home on time. A Virtual Assistant can even work more hours for you in a day, giving you more time to allot for your personal appointments. As indicated above, a VA works by the hour. They could be as flexible as someone who would be available immediately during emergency situations.

The aforementioned reasons for hiring a Virtual Assistant solidify the study also given above. The companies who are already establishing their virtual team have definitely understood the essence of having one.

What about you? Aren’t you interested to make a change?

Facts You Should Learn About Virtual Assistants

Facts You Should Learn About Virtual Assistants

From the term itself, a Virtual Assistant is an assistant who works virtually or to be specific, from home. Instead of a personal assistant that reports to your office, a Virtual Assistant will report to you electronically, such as through various communication means like e-mail, Skype, WhatsApp, and Messenger among others. In truth, you could communicate with them anywhere possible as long as you have an internet connection.

It is amazing to see that more people are becoming appreciative of what Virtual Assistants could do than before. Previously, companies would prefer their staff to work in their office, but now, more firms are actually outsourcing virtual staff due to the reduced overhead costs.

There are more things that you should learn about Virtual Assistants other than the reduction in business expenses, which include the following:

VAs Are Growing in Number. There is no doubt that the count of workers, who are switching their career choice to become a Virtual Assistant, is growing. At present, there are approximately 110,000 VAs registered on popular outsourcing platforms. Apparently, there are other VAs who preferred not to list their services on the said websites, who are not counted.

VAs Are Not Mere Freelancers or Contract Workers. You should know that a Virtual Assistant is not someone who would simply be present during a project. There are many Virtual Assistants who have grown with the companies they worked with.

As your Virtual Assistant succeeds in the tasks you are providing, you can anticipate him or her to handle more responsibilities. In other words, it is all about building relationships as well. They may not be physically present, but there is little to no difference between an in-house and remote assistant.

VAs Are Considered More Reliable by Certain Professionals. As an in-house employee, you would definitely disagree in some way. Nonetheless, before you do so, you should first find out why this has been observed among professionals who hire a Virtual Assistant.

One good reason from them is the fact a Virtual Assistant can manage tasks an executive is very uncomfortable to carry out. For instance, there are directors who would rather just attend meetings right away instead of handling the appointments setting as well. For them, coordinating the schedule with their clients could waste a lot of their time.

The advantages you may reap from hiring a Virtual Assistant may vary in comparison to what other executives experienced. However, one thing is for sure, and that is you will never regret outsourcing a virtual member for your company.