In our previous article, we have explained the advantages of working with a virtual assistant or VA. We have also detailed in the past why a growing business should hire a virtual assistant. Now while working with virtual assistants is all good, there are also some things that one needs to consider and prepare for before jumping to a VA-client relationship. These are as follows:
- Despite the various modern technologies that allow you to monitor your virtual assistant and keep track of their work, you can not truly supervise your VA and make sure that they work as expected. Video calls, remote workstation monitors, or even the most intrusive surveillance won\’t stop a tired VA from taking long breaks or doing unproductive things. Working with a VA thus requires a degree of faith and trust, although you should prepare yourself for the worst case scenario where your VA ends up slacking on duty and end up producing half-baked output at the end of the day.
- Some VAs are aware that if they do not satisfy their client and are let go as a result, they can simply move on and find a different customer. What this entails is that they end up having nothing to lose save for time and a bit of operational expense—which they can recuperate on the next work opportunity—and as such, may not take the job seriously. Finding the right VA or dealing with an experienced virtual assistance company is thus the best precautionary measure to avoid being burned in this regard.
- Cultural dissonance is a thing and it can get in the way of VA-client relations. Virtual assistants hail from all over the globe, and if you manage to land a deal with off-shore VAs, you better be prepared to understand how their culture works and familiarize yourself with their attitude towards work. Otherwise, the difference in cultural values can easily lead to misunderstandings that could start frictions between you and your VA, ending up with an unhealthy relationship that could otherwise be fruitful and amicable.
- VAs can be very difficult to micromanage and require a minimal amount of control. This stems from the fact that VAs will never be physically present in your office. They are also highly autonomous and their actual availability is hard to monitor, so if you have an urgent task to give them and they decide it\’s a good time for a 10-minute smoking break, you\’re out of luck. VAs are best given “fire-and-forget” tasks with a deadline, so if you need someone who is obliged to be around to do tasks at a whim, you\’re better off getting a full-time, office-based personal assistant.
- The virtual assistant market is highly saturated and it may be difficult for you to find replacements for a departed VA. Fortunately, there are plenty of virtual assistance companies like Bahagia Staff with a brand to grow and a reputation to keep, and they are more than willing to provide you with skilled VAs.
Employing the services of a virtual assistant can get you a ton of benefits, but you will need to be aware of the disadvantages of working with them as well. This can prepare you to smoothly integrate your VA to your business, and get the best results.
