For entrepreneurs, administrative assistants are a godsend. The problem is that a quality full-time administrative assistant can cost anywhere from $25,000 to $50,000 per year, and that salary is likely going to occupy a significant chunk of your budget. Now, have you ever considered getting yourself a remote administrative assistant? They don’t cost as much as an in-house administrative assistant, and they even have some advantages over their office-based counterparts.
The responsibilities of a remote administrative assistant and an in-house administrative assistant are practically the same. They are expected to take care of tasks like sorting your emails, scheduling appointments, answering and directing calls, making travel arrangements, assisting in preparing reports, and offering general staff support.
The main difference between the two is that remote administrative assistants can provide those services without being physically present. This means you can save money on office space, office equipment (computers, phones, desks, chairs, etc.), and other expenses. A report by Global Workplace Analytics has even suggested that companies can save as much as $11,000 per person a year if their employees are working from home.
If the remote administrative assistant you hire is from another country, you don’t have to offer the usual employee benefits required by law in the US. Of course, that’s not to say that you can’t offer perks or incentives. Do remember that from the employee’s perspective, benefits can be invaluable.
Now, here’s how you can really save a lot of money if you hire a remote administrative assistant. An administrative assistant in the US is expected to earn about $15-$20 an hour. That’s $2,400 to $3,200 a month for a full-time employee. On the other hand, you can easily find someone overseas who is willing to do the job for around $3 per hour. That’s only $480 a month. See the difference? That’s only a fraction of the cost of hiring an office-based administrative assistant. You can save thousands of dollars a year by getting yourself a remote administrative assistant.
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While there’s this assumption that remote workers are more likely to slack off because they have to deal with a lot of distractions while working from home, studies have shown that they are actually more productive than their office-based counterparts. According to a survey conducted by software and services company CoSo Cloud, around 77% of the remote employees who participated in the study reported greater productivity while working at home. 52% said that they are less likely to take time off – even when sick, and 30% said they accomplished more in less time. 23% even said that they are willing to work for longer hours to get more done.
FlexJobs also did a survey of around 5,500 individuals, and they found that 66% of the professionals who took part believed that their productivity would improve if they worked remotely. And here’s the interesting part. 76% said they were more productive because there were fewer distractions at home.
If you’re still not convinced, here’s one more study that supports the notion that remote workers are more productive than office workers. In the study, call center employees who volunteered to work from home displayed a 13% improvement in the performance. When the company offered a work from home option on a permanent basis, over half of the participants decided to make the switch, and this time their productivity improved by 22%.
The good thing about hiring a remote administrative assistant is that you can have your pick of the best talent worldwide since you don’t have to worry about geographical restrictions. This will allow you to find the perfect fit for your company at comparatively lower costs.
There are hundreds of job markets and staffing agencies online, so you have a lot of options. We prefer to use OnlineJobs.ph since we have had a lot of success hiring from there. Remember the $3 per hour remote administrative assistant mentioned earlier? That’s the average rate for a general virtual assistant based in the Philippines. The rates are so affordable because of the lower cost of living in the Philippines. For around $500 a month, you can actually get a bachelor’s degree holder who can speak fluent English. Not bad, right? You should find a bunch of excellent candidates in your search there because Filipinos are also good workers.
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Of course, this is only a suggestion. There are a lot of other countries with talented people who are willing to work at affordable rates. India is a good option as well, so do give them a look.
Engaged employees are less likely to leave their job. And guess what? Remote workers happened to be more engaged than office workers. According to Gallup, employees who spend 60% to 80% of their time working remotely are likely to be more engaged, and these individuals are also more satisfied with their work. TinyPulse has also reported that remote workers feel more valued than their office-based counterparts. Additionally, Gallup has also found that remote workers feel more connected to their employers, despite the physical distance between themselves and their workplace and colleagues.
In a survey of more than 3,400 employees, 45% of remote workers said they love their job compared to just 24% of office workers. As they say, if employees love what they do, they are more likely to stay.
You see, there are many advantages to hiring a remote administrative assistant over an in-house administrative assistant. Yes, they are not physically present in the office, but other than that, remote administrative assistants can do anything that their office-based counterparts can do.
So if you’re looking for someone to handle all those administrative tasks that have started to pile up on your to-do list, hiring a remote administrative assistant is an option you have to consider.
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