3 Reasons Why More Businesses Are Choosing To Hire Virtual Assistants

Business owners and executives have understood the value of executive assistants for many decades, but only recently have virtual assistants really made their mark in the business world. Likely due to increased uptake of remote working globally, today, more and more businesses are choosing to make the switch from a traditional executive assistant to a virtual assistant, and for good reason.

Cost

One of the biggest drivers for hiring a virtual assistant over a traditional EA is the cost. Let’s be honest, when it comes to business, dollars are a big influencer on decisions. Everyone wants to know they are getting value for money.

This is where virtual assistant companies like The e-Assistant are a big hit with executives; they get access to top-level assistants who in the regular employment market are being offered top dollar for their skills, but at a reduced cost. How does that work? The cost of a virtual is calculated purely based off the level of assistance the business requires, whereas, when hiring an employee there are many other associated costs to consider aside from their salary (leave entitlements, superannuation, office space and equipment, to name a few).

Recruitment process

Another major driver pushing business owners to engage virtual assistants is the recruitment process. If you have ever been involved in hiring an employee, either for your own business or an employer, you would know the process can be tedious, costly and time-consuming. Ironically, the exact reason you need to hire an assistant in the first place is because you don’t have enough time to get through everything on your list so adding another big task to the list is far from ideal.

Of course, engaging a virtual assistant will still take a bit of time but you get to skip the cost and time of hiring a recruiter or advertising the role yourself, filtering through potentially hundreds of applications, then preparing employment contracts.

Flexibility

Committing to hiring an employee, particularly for small-to-medium businesses, and knowing whether to hire someone part-time or full-time employee can often be a challenge (and a daunting long-term financial commitment). Increasing or decreasing employee hours down the track if business needs change can also be difficult as employees are bound by a contract that they are not likely to be open to amending. Typically, virtual assistant companies offer businesses a lot more flexibility in terms of packages and the services or hours they engage the assistant for.

Further to this, working with a virtual assistant company gives businesses access to not just an individual employee but a team of assistants. This means effortless access to more resources if required without needing to go through the recruitment process – win-win!

So why have virtual assistants only recently taken off?

In pre-pandemic times, working from home was unfamiliar territory for most businesses and executives had always been accustomed to having their assistants in the office. The past couple of years have proven that remote working can be just as efficient, if not more efficient, than traditional face-to-face working, leading many businesses to consider the benefits of virtual assistants and feel comfortable with a new way of working.