Running a business can be incredibly stressful; you have to ensure everything runs smoothly, and your employees also depend on your business being a success. Finding time to do admin or filing work can be difficult, especially if problems start to pop up. This is where part-time virtual assistants come in.
Virtual assistants can save a business up to 78% in operating costs. Hiring a full-time assistant is costly, and you usually have to add benefits to their paycheck. A virtual assistant, on the other hand, only bills you for the hours they were working on your accounts and doesn’t expect any benefits or bonuses.
So, keep reading our article
Top Benefits of Hiring a Part-Time Virtual Assistant
1. Save Time
One of the main reasons to consider hiring a virtual assistant is to save time. Time is a valuable asset, and every hour you spend on admin is an hour you could have been winning new clients.
Generally, admin tasks don’t add to your bottom line. Admin tasks include things like:
- Answering phones
- Sending emails
- Scheduling appointments
- Doing paperwork
Unfortunately, admin is crucial to keep a business running, so you can’t ignore it. A virtual assistant can handle these tasks for you, which in turn leaves you with spare time to invest back into your business.
A virtual assistant can also help you with your work-life balance. If you find yourself doing admin late at night or answering phone calls during family dinners, you might need someone to take over those tasks so that you can focus on other matters. Stepping away from work can help you rejuvenate and jump back in full speed the next day.
2. Save on Staff Costs
Full-time staff is expensive. You pay for their bathroom breaks, coffee runs, and anything in between. When you think about it, do you truly need an assistant for 40 hours a week?
Part-time virtual assistants only bill you for the time they spent working on your account. So if they managed to complete all the admin tasks for the week in just two hours, that’s all they charge for. You can find assistants for all sorts of jobs in your company, as well. For instance, a data entry virtual assistant who can handle repetitive tasks, or an assistant handling your calendar and meetings.
So while the hourly rate of a virtual assistant might be more than a normal assistant, you’ll end up saving money. But on average, you’ll find that virtual assistants also charge less than normal assistants. This is because they can live anywhere in the world, and the cost of living in their area might be much lower than where you’re based.
3. Avoid Troublesome Labor Laws
While labor laws exist for a reason, they can make it incredibly difficult for a business owner. The way the laws are written can make it difficult to fire employees that aren’t performing as expected.
Paying an employee that doesn’t perform well is every business owner’s nightmare. Unfortunately, it’s unavoidable sometimes, as being sued also isn’t a good option.
When you hire a virtual assistant that resides outside of your country, the labor laws don’t apply. So you can trial run an assistant, and if it doesn’t work out, you can part ways amicably without fearing a lawsuit in the near future.
4. Improve Your Customer Service
You can have the best product or service around, but if your customer service is lacking, you’ll end up losing business. If clients have to wait a long time to get a reply to a query, or nobody answers the phone when they call, chances are, they’ll use a different company next time.
If everyone in your company has been picking up the slack and doing customer service-related jobs, you’ll find that they’re spread too thin. This will lead to a decrease in productivity, making clients unhappy again as the work isn’t getting done.
Bringing in a virtual assistant, even part-time, will lessen the load on everyone. They can take over scheduling, taking calls, replying to queries, and filling orders. This will speed up the entire process, leaving you with happy clients.
Your staff will also be happier as they just need to focus on their main job now.
5. Increase Productivity
While hiring new staff is expensive, you might find that the productivity of your current staff is suffering. When you’re stressed and have to do various things at once, it can put your staff on edge. They’ll work harder and try to lessen the load, but after some time, they’ll start to falter.
You might find that you’re not the only one that can benefit from a virtual assistant. Some of your employees might be spending more time on admin than anything else, which slows down production speed, but also isn’t a good use of their skills. Hiring a virtual assistant to help them stay on track can boost their productivity and, in turn, help your company make more money.
Not everyone requires a virtual assistant. You might find that a company virtual assistant is more than enough to handle all the admin tasks, but you might also find that you need to hire a few virtual assistants to help with different tasks.
Hire a Part-Time Virtual Assistant
When it comes to hiring a part-time virtual assistant, you really don’t have anything to lose. If you’ve been contemplating hiring someone, that means you have enough work for them to justify adding a new position. So free up some time and consider hiring a freelance virtual assistant to help you out.
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