In the pre-pandemic era, remote work was a pretty novel idea. Teleconferences were only used on select occasions, although there were a select few who were already granted the privileges of a work-from-home set up as a special agreement with their employers. Despite technology for remote work becoming more and more accessible as it advances every year, no one seemed to have considered teleworking being the future of work and becoming a permanent working style for most people, if not everyone. But in what seemed to be a promising year, 2020 was unexpectedly met with the coronavirus pandemic, which suddenly created a huge impact that no one could have imagined.
Many companies and various industries from all over the world found themselves facing a situation for which they were all not prepared. To survive, businesses were forced to reinvent themselves and shift from the traditional office setting into a remote work model in order to continue to operate without risking their employees’ health and safety. This transition was made possible and much easier for companies with the help of a plethora of platforms and technological advances that are making the telecommuting work model more convenient and accessible to everyone.
In the past, remote work was nothing but a trend among younger generations who are always on the go and on the lookout for new experiences, deeming work in an office setting much too monotonous or outdated for them. While the pandemic became the primary cause of transition into digital, remote work today is no longer considered a trend but a part of the “new normal”, where businesses are beginning to explore the many possibilities and benefits of this new work model.
With these many life changes, what we are getting used to during this pandemic is slowly becoming our new normal. Some of these changes are not so bad either, as remote work comes with a lot of benefits that help make our work lives easier. Aside from being beneficial for our health as we get to eat more healthy, home-cooked meals, it is also healthy for the environment as it reduces pollution on the road. Moreover, it also reduces costs, turnovers, and helps us become more productive as we discover different ways for us to work more effectively and efficiently in the comforts of our own home.
Albeit having these advantages, one can’t help but miss our secretaries and personal assistants who make our jobs a little easier and much, more manageable. Fortunately, various remote work tools and software that make our work-at-home lives easier also make it possible for you to hire a virtual assistant, much like your assistant in a physical office.
What is a virtual assistant?
A virtual assistant is a well-educated, highly-trained individual who provides all sorts of services from a remote location. Just like your personal assistant, they learn everything about you – what you want, how you want it, and when you need it so that they could provide you precisely what you need and help make your life a little easier. To ensure efficiency in their services, all virtual assistants go through a meticulous screening process and a training program that further improves their skills to be able to serve you well. Despite not being physically present, they can do anything that can be done remotely – even getting your daily early morning coffee fix – and become an essential part of your personal and professional lives.
What can a virtual assistant do for you?
You’re probably wondering why you should hire a virtual assistant, and here’s one reason why. A virtual assistant can help you with pretty much any task you can think of – from administration and finances to research and content creation. Furthermore, they can also do clerical work and handle your personal tasks, too, which in times of COVID can be such a huge relief. Some virtual assistants also specialize in a particular field, which can be helpful and become an even more practical option for you instead of hiring someone to do only one particular job. To share with you an overview, we’ve compiled a couple of tasks to give you an even better idea of what your virtual assistant can do.
Administration and Finances
One of the primary reasons one would hire a virtual assistant is for administrative and financial work. A virtual assistant can schedule your Zoom meetings, organize your to-do lists, answer your emails, and manage your finances. They will keep track of what you do, your expenses, and your incomes, to keep your business well-organized and operating smoothly.
Customer Service
When you work remotely, you’re most likely constantly attending calls, talking to clients, teleconferencing with partners, and doing a mountain-load of online tasks – even more so during the pandemic. Your virtual assistant can help lighten your load and take on some of your tasks by addressing even your most trivial tasks like taking messages for you and helping you provide a better service for your clients instead of having them on hold for long periods of time.
Research and Content Creation
Oftentimes, tasks such as research, content creation, and social media management can be very time-consuming for you and your team. This is where an assistant can come in handy while you focus on more important responsibilities at work.
Personal Tasks
As mentioned above, a virtual assistant is not just about doing clerical work like data entry services. They can research home exercise routines for you to do during your free time, look up recipes and create meal plans that are well within your diet, budget, and ingredient availability, or even help you find the best value for that item you’re looking into purchasing. Because they know you, they can help you with any personal tasks you assign to them, even down to the trivial tasks like ordering your coffee and meals for you and having them delivered to your home. Basically, they are not just around to make your professional life easier, they are also professionals at making your personal life a lot more manageable.
Benefits of a Virtual Assistant
It has already been established just how much a virtual assistant can accomplish every day, but now you’re probably wondering what the difference is between hiring a virtual assistant with hiring a full-time personal assistant. Below is a list to help you with that.
It reduces costs.
Business managers are constantly looking for ways to keep their expenses at a minimum. With a virtual assistant, you’ll be able to outsource a myriad of tasks that are usually done by different people, hence reducing the salary and training costs most companies spend when hiring new staff. Virtual assistant services companies such as OkayRelax give you the leeway to pay by the hour or by task instead of a full-time employee’s salary every month.
You can optimize your time.
With the help of virtual assistants, you are given the luxury of having more time, which is and always has been one of the most valuable things a business – or an individual – can have. Now you won’t have to promote job vacancies, no more interviews with candidates until you find the right one for the position, and no more tedious hiring and on-boarding processes with new employees. With virtual assistant services, you can hire a personal assistant any time you want, and only when you need them – what’s more, is that you can rest assured that they have already been previously trained to do their job for you well. Virtual assistants are essentially jacks of all trades and multitaskers, who can complete tasks in less time than most – but with just the same, or even better, results.
Happier employees.
When you have a virtual assistant doing all the trivial and boring tasks, and your in-house employees focusing on the more interesting and important ones, you get to have a happier and more efficient team – and a happier team means that they will most likely be doing their jobs with more passion and dedication, and ultimately providing you with better results.
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