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 14 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!
7. Access the best talent
Finding skilled PA staff can be tough work, and you can never be sure who’ll benefit your company and who won’t.
Virtual assistants are a great way to tap into the best talent. With many of the best PAs switching to becoming a VA as a result of the benefits it offers them - there is a rich talent pool of virtual assistants in the market.
8. Access different skillsets
Virtual assistant companies have taken the virtual assistant model and elevated it by integrating teams into their delivery model.
We introduced this into our business model as part of our service delivery and our clients are blown away by the benefits.
Where this particularly comes in useful, is if you hire a PA, you're limited to the skillset they provide. Read our blog for a complete list of services that a virtual assistant provides.
9. Learning to delegate
The funny thing is, a lot of people don't know how to use a personal assistant effectively and often find themselves doing some of their admin work themselves.
Virtual assistants can proactively support you to delegate and show you how to manage a virtual assistant. As they're supporting multiple businesses at any given time, they know how to support you to maximise their support as best possible.
10. Learn their best practices
Virtual assistants tend to come with bucket loads of experience and support multiple businesses. This gives them a unique insight into the best industry practices.
Administration and PA support needs to be done correctly and efficiently. Getting the right virtual assistant will mean that you and your business is on top of its admin game!
11. Your trusted assistant
When you hire a virtual assistant, they're your trusted assistant - making sure you are on your top game, at a fraction of the cost of a PA.
This will make you more productive and ensure that you are maximising your working day. Whether you're a leader in a big organisation or the founder of a small business - virtual assistants can benefit everyone.
12. Balance your personal life
If you're fully utilising your virtual assistant, you'll feel the benefits not only across your working life, but your personal life too!
Most people will use their virtual assistant for personal support also - which has added benefits to you.
14. Supporting your business growth
Virtual assistants are designed for business growth. They provide the agility and flexibility to be utilised as and when you need them. This makes them a fantastic resource to support your business growth.
Before hiring a virtual assistant, create a long-term plan on how you expect to utilise them to ensure they support you business growth as best they can.
How SmartPA can support
From individual virtual assistants to multi-skilled virtual teams, no matter the size of your business, objective or challenge, SmartPA has the perfect solution to help your business increase efficiency, drive productivity, and maximise profitability.
Find out how SmartPA can support you.