Are online personal assistants difficult to work with?
An online personal assistant (PA), often referred to as a virtual assistant, is a remote employee you hire to do specific tasks, usually on a flexible basis. Rather than hiring an in-house staff member to assist you with work, a virtual PA can work from anywhere in the world and can handle just about any task that can be done virtually. From general business admin and HR to managing customer care for you, virtual assistants usually have rich backgrounds and training in certain industries and can perfectly match your specific needs.
One thing you need to know about online personal assistants is that hiring one can save your company up to 78% in costs. When you work through a virtual PA agency, you will usually pay per hour and only for work done, rather than having the expense of hiring someone in-house full-time.
The question you may be pondering is if hiring a virtual assistant is worthwhile and if they are difficult to work with. Of course, before investing in a virtual PA, you’re going to want to make sure this is the right direction for you to take.
If saving time and money while getting things done and improving your own productivity is something you’d like to do, then hiring a virtual PA is most certainly worth it. And because virtual assistants can work from anywhere in the world and come with added flexibility, they aren’t hard to work with. Many businesses now turn to executive assistant services to streamline operations, ensuring they have professional support without the overhead of a full-time hire.
Communication is simple
You may think that hiring a remote employee is going to make communication difficult, especially if that person is in a different time zone. The truth is remote work often opens completely new avenues for communication and makes it far simpler than having an on-site employee.
You will likely be meeting with your virtual PA via video call. Video conferencing provides a fast and efficient way to communicate with any remote employee. Plus, it’s been said that video calls can actually promote better communication as you are hyper-focused on the person you’re speaking to versus the distractions and interruptions that can happen in a traditional office.
Communicating with an online personal assistant is far less complicated than you may realise. You can usually reach them via any channel that suits you, whether that be a Zoom call or WhatsApp. You can schedule regular check-ins and chat to them anytime using any online application.
The fact that physical face-to-face communication is taken out of the equation does not make virtual PAs difficult to work with.
Catering to your specific needs
When you hire an online PA through an agency, you’ll usually be matched with the best candidate for your specific needs. For example, if you work in the financial sector, you’ll be paired with a virtual assistant with a background in finance. If developing and managing your website is something you’ll need your PA to work on, you’ll be matched with someone who has these exact skills.
Online PAs are easy to work with because they are best matched to exactly what you need them for. This also means very little training is required from your side, other than getting the person up to speed on how you work.
Better yet, you can hire more than one remote PA at a time – still saving you more money than hiring an on-site team. Each PA comes with their own background and expertise. Now you have a powerhouse of skill and expertise handling your work for you!
Making your life easier and more productive
Perhaps one of the most significant benefits of hiring an online PA is that working with one gives you back your most valuable resource: your time. If you have someone handling your business or personal admin (or both), you’ll have more time to focus on important things like growing your company or spending time with your loved ones.
Virtual assistants are usually particularly easy to work with when it comes to boosting your productivity. Your online PA can help manage your email inbox, your diary, and your schedule. Having a gatekeeper to do all this for you gives you the space and time to be truly productive.
Rather than wasting hours sifting through emails, you can have your PA answer basic emails and create a filing system for what requires your response and what doesn’t. Your online assistant can also help you stick to a schedule and prevent people from interrupting you while you focus.
Before you hire an online personal assistant, you want to ensure that doing so is the right choice for you and your company. And while there are massive cost savings involved, this may not be enough motivation for you to hire a virtual PA. However, knowing that they are extremely easy to work with and definitely worth your while will hopefully simplify your decision.
