Companies are changing the way they do business, specifically the way they staff their businesses. Hiring an employee is expensive and time consuming which is why companies are looking for an alternative to full-time employees.
More and more companies are looking to use temporary workers to fill in the gaps when necessary. Temporary workers allow companies to bulk up when business is booming and scale back when business is not.
Business owners tend to turn to temporary agencies when they are seeking part-time or temporary help. While temporary workers do provide businesses with an alternative to full-time employees, there are various problems that can accompany temporary workers. “Temp” workers may not have the experience required for this type of work but they are available at the time you need them, they can also lack professionalism, be a “clock watcher” and are prone to becoming involved in the water cooler chatter. Businesses do have another solution to improving their bottom line, Virtual Assistants.
Virtual Assistants or “VA's”, provide businesses with a cost effective solution. They provide support in numerous areas to companies, large and small, nationwide and now internationally. More importantly VA's offer businesses the opportunity to partner with someone who has the experience of running their own businesses and therefore will be much more invested in the outcome of their work. Since they do not work in your office, they are not exposed to “water cooler” conversations, so work time tends to be much more productive. As VA's tend to come from professional backgrounds, they will typically have a higher degree of experience, and be more specialized than the typical temp worker. They can assist with anything from answering your email and paying your bills to organizing your company events and managing your office for you, all without the need for payroll taxes, insurance, benefits or dealing with any of the typical stress that can be associated with a full-time employee. If you are dissatisfied with your VA, you can very simply replace them with someone who more closely suits your needs. Additionally, since the VA works from home, your pool of potential candidates becomes nationwide.
On a project basis, a VA can't be beaten. It can be difficult to find a worker to come into your office to work on a project that only takes a few hours. A VA will work on an as-needed basis, so any project, large or small can be handled by your Virtual Assistant.
Virtual Assistants are now providing support in various specialty areas such as Desktop Publishing, Human Resources, Administrative, Web design, Bookkeeping, travel and event planning and many more. Where there's a will, there's a VA.
VA's make good business sense for small and large corporations alike, it's a win-win for everyone involved.
About the author:
Gráinne Foley, a former Human Resources Manager is the owner of A Job Well Done (
www.ajwd.com), a virtual staffing service providing top level virtual professionals to large and medium sized companies and small and home based businesses.
