The 40-hour week still exists in many companies but more are moving towards being location-independent. In most cases, this gives staff the choice to work from home or in the office, when it suits them best. While virtual teams suit tech-reliant sectors, they aren’t suitable for every business.

Working with a remote virtual assistant is a learning curve too. Delegating tasks and resisting the urge to do everything yourself is tricky. Added to that, having someone work on something then feeling you have to go over it again is frustrating.

Success really depends on you rather than your new employee, however.

Being the owner or manager, you’re the one who dictates how things should go. You’re also responsible for organising their daily tasks. Plus, only you can draw plans for the future of the business. To ensure you get things right, learn what VAs are all about.

What is a remote assistant?

Remote personal assistants provide various services to companies or entrepreneurs from different locations.

Many are the tasks they are able to perform, including:

• Preparing reports
• Setting appointments
• Managing events
• Booking hotels
• Responding to emails

Others are also capable of performing niche work such as accounting and digital marketing.

Why hire a remote assistant

To free up other workers

If mid- or senior-level staff had to choose between preparing reports and participating in growth strategies, they will go for the latter since it seems more important. However, you mustn’t neglect less critical activities like finances and emails either.

With a virtual assistant, you can get these tasks done and keep your in-house team happy at the same time. They will handle most of the tedious jobs that can be done online so you won’t have to. Your full-time workers can focus on more pressing matters then.

To cut down overhead costs

One reason why businesses outsource is to cut costs. Instead of hiring full-time staff for a small job, you can outsource someone at an hourly rate which is cheaper. Even if you take them on for 8 hours a day, they usually charge less than someone office-based.

You don’t have to worry about paying for the training of a new hire too. Normally, you have to brief in-house teams on their responsibilities but this costs money. Remote assistants are already experts in their field so they can get started right away.

To reduce hours spent

Some activities are worth investing more time on than others. For instance, let’s say you’re a small enterprise with no customer representative. Your team shouldn’t be spending a huge chunk of their day fielding phone calls and replying to customer emails for minor issues.

Skip all of that and have a professional take care of it. A VA won’t need to undergo hours of training or adjusting to the job. Additionally, they will remain focused on the tasks you’ve assigned them to so they will get them done quicker compared to someone multi-tasking.

What does a remote assistant do?

As mentioned previously, many are the tasks that remote personal assistants can do. It’s hard to list down all that they are capable of here so we’re going to cover their most common roles.

Personal Tasks

• Organising calendars and to-do lists
• Booking travel accommodations
• Purchasing gifts, clothes, hardware, etc.

Finance Management

• Maintaining budgets
• Keeping track of expenses
• Making finances as transparent as possible

Research

• Monitoring competitors’ products and services
• Analysing consumer trends
• Finding formats for press releases

Email Management

• Answering general questions, job enquiries and follow-ups
• Organising and filtering inboxes
• Performing email marketing campaigns

Administrative Work

• Scheduling meetings and appointments
• Entering data into the system
• Answering phone calls and messages

Content Creation

• Writing short-form and long-form articles
• Researching topics relevant to your audience
• Uploading and publishing posts on WordPress

Social Media Management

• Crafting content for social media channels
• Engaging with followers
• Analysing statistics and reports

Customer Service

• Addressing customer concerns
• Managing client information
• Dealing with feedback

How to manage a remote assistant

As you’re not able to interact with your VAs in person, it’s understandable that you have your fair share of concerns on how to manage them. Too many things can go wrong in a virtual office, such as your employees going AWOL.

The good news is there are simple strategies to prevent any problems that may appear.

Use communication tools

There’s only so much that a regular email can convey. A direct message on Slack or Skype allows you to share files and ideas within seconds. It’s also easy to hop onto a video call or share screens when necessary. Schedule regular progress reports to show lines are always open.

Track progress with technology

Have task allocation and monitoring in one place with project management tools. Teamwork, Trello, and the like enable you to establish clear deadlines, set hours allocated, check the status of each project and categorise files and assignments so remote assistants know where to go each time.

Learn to trust them

Understandably, it’s hard to trust someone whom you’ve never met in person. There come thoughts about whether they’re working or slacking off. Time trackers can give you some peace of mind and are worth investing on. Establishing a sense of trust is better for the long-term.

How to pay a remote assistant

How much to pay

When determining the pay scale of your remote virtual assistant, a few factors must be considered.

Type of work

Basic administrative tasks like checking inboxes and scheduling appointments may have you paying around 15 to 25 USD per hour for VAs in your country.

Digital marketing or bookkeeping, on the other hand, may charge you 50 USD per hour for pros in your area. The amount increases according to how complex their work is going to be.

Level of experience

Expect to pay more when you’re hiring someone with years of experience compared to a newbie. Rest assured that their expertise and professionalism are worth the premium price. A veteran in the industry brings in reliable results that will save you time and money anyway.

Base of operations

Often, it’s cheaper to hire a virtual worker from places like Nicaragua and the Philippines than in the Western part of the world. The exchange rate is in your favour yet you won’t have to compromise on quality. They can be as fluent in English as native speakers as well.

How to send payment

When using a website like Upwork, there’s already a system in place that you simply have to use. Otherwise, consider these tips.

Pay after the job is done

We don’t recommend paying a VA in advance as they may lack the motivation to get the job done after. Sometimes, they may request partial payment which is fine if you’ve worked with them in the past and know their work ethic.

Use an established method

It’s important to use a widely recognised system when paying online employees. This is because their currency conversions are reliable, they’re transparent about surcharges and fees and they’re secure. Examples include Paypal, TransferWise, and Payoneer.

Where to find a remote assistant

It’s clear that remote assistants can be of benefit to your company. Not only do they handle routine tasks for you but also they boost the productivity of the whole team. As for where to find one who meets your standards, trust in Remote Workmate to assist you.

We make hiring remote personal assistants a simpler process as we will make your job description, perform the initial screening, and conduct the briefing in your stead – among other tasks. We can help make arrangements regarding the payment as well.