Virtual Assistant Defined

A Virtual Assistant vs. In-house Office Assistant

Your business is growing and you have decided it is time to hire an Office Assistant. Hiring in-house staff can become complicated. Questions to answer are “where to advertise”, “what skills and experience should the candidate have”, “what will their work schedule be”, “what equipment and furniture will I need to purchase” or “what if they don’t work out”.

Before writing up your recruitment ad, consider the advantages of contracting a Virtual Assistant.

1. With a VA, you save money as you don’t have to provide office space, furnishings or equipment. Every VA works from their personal office environment.

2. With a VA, you don’t have to worry about coordinating work schedules. Simply send them the work to be done with a due date.

3. A client only pays for the actual time a VA spends on completing the task. No money spent on bathroom visits, water cooler chats, or coffee breaks.

4. When hiring a VA, there is no need to pay for fringe benefits like health insurance, vacation pay or employer wage deductions. A VA takes care of their individual overhead costs.

5. In-house staff will probably require training. A VA is already proficient with the latest tools and technology to do the job.

6. As an independent business owner themselves, a VA has the ability to see the bigger picture. Unlike an employee, a VA knows and understands the challenges of running a business.

7. A VA constantly invests in their business and has the software available to complete projects. A client can save money by not having to use their funds to purchase software for every new project.

8. As a worldwide organization, VA’s have a resource pool available to call upon. If there is a time constraint, they have access to other individual VAs that can be called upon to complete the job.

9. Commuting is never a problem with a VA. Your work will get completed even during the worst weather. No down time due to traffic accidents, construction or vehicle emergencies.

10. As each client relationship is protected with a Confidentiality Agreement, you can be confident in the integrity of your VA and don’t need to worry about confidential company information being shared with outsiders.

When working out the true costs of hiring an employee versus contracting a Virtual Assistant, a client not only benefits by having a more qualified, more experienced professional on hand, but once the math is done, the VA often comes in at the same price or lower! Compare the cost yourself!

*Source: Virtual Assistant Networking Association  (VANA)