With the rapid increase in the number of work-from-home staff after Covid-19, there has been a change in the way businesses function today. Social distancing has led to a new generation of WFH staff that wants to sit on their balcony and work at their own pace and time. According to Statista, in 2021 overall 66 per cent of US employees requested their organizations to make remote working permanent.

It is that time when companies need high-quality work consistently to grow in 2022. Small businesses can not afford to train multiple employees for basic tasks that a single individual with the required skillfulness can perform. The market today is harsh and brutal.

Here is when the role of a virtual assistant comes into the picture. But before we dwell on what a remote virtual assistant can do for you and why you should hire a virtual assistant in 2022, let us talk about what is a virtual assistant.

WHAT IS A VIRTUAL ASSISTANT?

A virtual assistant or a VA is a freelance personal secretary who works independently on a contract and performs common back-of-office administrative(like accounting, bookkeeping, tax filing, etc.), technical (like hiring, training, etc.), and creative (like social media content, management, etc.) tasks for their clients. A general admin virtual assistant works remotely in her own space outside the company’s office. The company does not pay for employee benefits, insurance, or pension expenses. The remote virtual assistant has access to the required documents and information needed to perform the most common tasks requested by the client.

Companies looking for virtual assistants wonder if they need a virtual secretary to grow their business. Can the virtual PA bring the skills to the table that the company needs if it outsources staff? Do not think much because we are here to help you clear your doubts about why you should hire a virtual office assistant for your business.

Let’s dive straight into it.

1. Fastly Grows Your Business 

Small businesses and startups are making the most out of outsourcing staff to India or hiring remote staff to work for them from anywhere. The ultimate reason behind outsourcing staff is to shift their focus on the bottlenecks of their business that need the most attention. A virtual assistant will help you work smarter by standardizing your daily tasks like calendar management, inbox management, research, etc. VAs like accounting virtual assistants or bookkeeping virtual assistants can save you energy. You can finally sit and develop the right business strategies. You can shift your workload on your virtual assistant and freely focus on setting your business operations in the right direction.

2. Lowers Cost Of Business

Would you not want to cut some of the hefty operating costs and invest them in growing your firm instead? But rather you have to spend it on setting up an extra office for a full-time employee. But when you hire a freelance personal assistant, this is not an issue anymore. A general admin virtual assistant works on an hourly basis. It reduces the monthly expenses of paying salary or other office benefits that a full-time employee requires. And say goodbye to off-time payments. You save money on buying another desktop or high-speed internet for a menial job that a VA could perform from a remote location much more efficiently. The best part about remote staff hiring is that you do not have to train them at your own expense. It reduces the training cost, and you can start working with them instantly.

3. Provides Work-Life Balance

You know how important it is to schedule your priorities. And a virtual assistant can help you do it effectively. Making your business successful is your utmost priority. But what about keeping yourself sound and energetic? What if you are stressed out and cannot make those big bossy decisions? VAs can perform all the boring tasks that draw your energy down. We see our new clients worrying the most about their accounting and bookkeeping. It keeps them under constant stress. But our accounting virtual assistants and bookkeeping virtual assistant services have been worthwhile and improved their emotional well-being. They are then able to perform better in business. 

4. Increase Productivity

Did you know VoucherCloud conducted a study on 1,989 UK employees and found that they worked just 2 hours and 23 minutes on average? Isn’t that shocking? You are paying your office employee for doing nothing—for the most part—they spend in the office. Virtual assistants always charge for the time they put into your work. It means you only pay for productivity and not the procrastination of your remote staff. And because your virtual assistant is habitual of doing the same tasks that you otherwise spend a lot of time on, they can do it at speed. It leads to an increase in productivity. Your business stays organized, and the processes remain in place.

5. Multiple Skills

A company that is not aware of the abilities of a virtual assistant would generally keep a different employee for different tasks like filing taxes, managing expenses, doing insurance, or raising invoices. But what if we tell you that a single person can perform all these jobs at a much lower cost than a full-time employee? Yes. A virtual assistant is qualified with different skill sets. Virtual assistants get training in specialized skills like managing social media, accounting, bookkeeping, copywriting, proofreading, handling emails, etc. VAs have experience setting businesses up for success. Being a multitasker is their thing.

6. Easy Delegation

We know to do great things and make a big impact, one must learn to delegate at the right time. Instead of spending your precious time on a menial day-to-day office job, you can easily pass on the work to your virtual PA. By delegating the work to your VA instead of doing it yourself, you will end up with a more satisfactory result. Your virtual assistant can do it with a better mind and focus, ultimately reducing stress levels. Delegating the task to your virtual assistant will give you time to concentrate on developing strategies for success. It will free up your schedule, and you can put your mind to more creative ideas for business development.

7. Provides Scalability

You are a small business or a startup, and scalability is important. But you lack the resources to grow bigger. Virtual assistants or a team of remote staff can be beneficial here. You can easily hire a WFH virtual assistant with lower risks. Building a team with remote staff that can be your virtual assistant and bookkeeper, at the same time is much more affordable than hiring them both separately. Also, it is much easier to let go of a virtual secretary than a full-time employee.

8. Improves Customer Service

A virtual assistant manages all your calls, makes appointments, and resolves the subjects you are troubled with at the customer’s end. Virtual assistants help you improve your customer service and make your clients happy, and they come again. Your virtual assistant makes sure that you are on top of your game. Also, with the help of a virtual assistant, you can make your business available 24*7 for your customers.

9. Improves Online Presence

Today every business wants to make its presence online. No growing business would like to lose that amount of customer base sitting online. But being on the internet is not as breezy as it sounds. In such a scenario, virtual assistants come out handy. Continuous posting, timely engagement with the audience, creating interactive content, and much more, a virtual assistant can easily handle all this on your part. What do you think virtual assistants for bloggers do? It is part of their skills to know how to automate social media posts, use all tools, and track metrics for their clients.

Now you know from the above reasons why you need a virtual assistant for your business. Running an enterprise is not an easy task, we all know it. The time has come when you need to make a smart decision for your business. And who knows hiring a virtual assistant today can be your secret to enjoying success in the future.

We are a company of professionals keen on helping businesses with bookkeeping, maintaining accounts, and tax filing. We have been helping our clients with hiring, training, and maintaining staff, so they can align themselves with their business goals. If you are looking to build a remote team, Contact Us Today!