Virtual assistants offer a flexible alternative to businesses instead of hiring a full-time PA. Virtual assistants typically support businesses for a monthly package and businesses only pay for productive time. This makes them a cost-effective alternative, made popular by the rise of remote working.
Virtual assistants tend to support multiple clients at the same time. By only paying for productive time, with weekly reporting businesses are able to save on average 50% compared to hiring a PA. The benefits of using a virtual assistant have become clearer to businesses in recent years as technology has made it easier than ever to build strong working relationships remotely.
There has never been a better time to hire a virtual assistant – here are our top reasons why you should.
1. Maximise your productivity
It might seem like a more obvious point, but it’s worth re-iterating: by getting a virtual assistant to manage your day-to-day tasks, you’ll have more free time and as a result, you’ll be able to work on the things that make a bigger difference to your bottom line.
Too many business leaders let themselves get bogged down in things that might be necessary, but don’t actually help their businesses grow.
There are only so many hours in the day, but effective outsourcing can help you free some up.
2. The cost-effective alternative to a PA
The benefits of having a PA are widely understood and have been routed in the foundations of the industry. However, full-time employees can be expensive. As well as salary payments, you’ll also have to contribute to NI, pensions, workplace consumables and so forth.
One of the key benefits of hiring a virtual assistant instead, is that you pay a monthly package rather than an annual salary.
This gives you a reduced long-term commitment and as a result, less risk.
3. Weekly and monthly reporting
When you’re working with a virtual assistant, it’s common that they will provide you with weekly reporting on their tasks for the week.
This gives you complete visibility of how long each task has taken and ensures that you can prioritise workload and budget in the future.
Some virtual assistant companies even have online portals that you can access anytime to see what your virtual assistant is working on and how much of your monthly package you have used.
4. Gives you flexibility as a business
Growing businesses will always have the challenge of balancing profitability vs headcount.
Virtual assistants provide businesses a flexible alternative to fulfilling their administrative demands, without the long-term commitment of hiring. Additionally, they often work on a contractual basis, removing the additional cost burden of hiring.
For example, you don’t have to pay:
Recruitment costs
PAYE
Holidays/Sickness
Coffee breaks or downtime
5. Scale your package up or down
Business growth is rarely completely linear. Using a virtual assistant will enable you to manage the peaks and troughs more effectively, as you can typically scale your monthly package up or down with a virtual assistant.
We’d recommend giving your virtual assistant plenty notice ahead of any scaling to ensure they can manage their workload effectively.
6. Only pay for productive time
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average employee works 8.8 hours per day. However, a study of around 2,000 employees found that most people aren’t working for the majority of their time at work.
When you hire a virtual assistant, you only pay for productive time. What does this mean?
If a virtual assistant takes 45 minutes to write your next meeting minutes, you only pay for 45 minutes of work. Before you know it, you’re getting more admin completed by your virtual assistant, for far less money!
