Risks of hiring a Virtual Assistant
After weighing up the pros and cons of your decision, there are still some risks, do you stay as you are or make a movement forward? Any movement from the norm carries risks, even just staying with the norm carries risks, so how do you understand and balance the risks so that they work in your favour? The biggest risk is not making a decision. Indecisiveness can kill a business and stop an idea in its tracks, but making the wrong decision can also have detrimental effects.
In a business, owners should be fully aware that life is not always rainbows and butterflies sometimes, it can be stormy too. This is especially true when a business begins to hire its team members; choosing the right people to be part of your vision could be a 50/50 case scenario for every businessman and every decision made. Moreover, when business schedules start to be demanding, the owner must have the right people to help them stay on track and accomplish the tasks needed for the business.
When the gig economy made its way to the top of the labour market, companies and start-ups have been more motivated than ever to hire freelancers. As digital technology develops, it gives rise to the most in-demand gig work – the Virtual Assistant (VA). VAs are people who can utilise technology to help businesses connect with customers, sell their products or services, and fulfill their orders while working remotely, saving time and money for the company. Now we might assume that having a VA should provide us with some sense of comfort as they save us the hassle of stressing over little things but we should also know the risks associated with hiring a VA, and the further risks involved in hiring the wrong VA.
Risks of hiring a VA:
While it cannot be denied that the biggest worry most employers have when hiring a virtual assistant is the fear they’ll do something unprofessional and it will reflect poorly on the entire company. This is just one of the many risks involved…
Communication problems
You will have to communicate with your virtual assistant through chat, call, or video calls, conferencing, emails, project management tools or through shared drives and shared work. If communication with a Virtual Assistant continues to have barriers right from the start, then it might become a serious problem in the future. Communication is key for working with remote staff, the right tools, and the right communication is essential for making things work.
Data Security Risks
As information will be passed to your virtual assistant so they can work on a specific task this also includes risk, regardless of what kind of sharing platform you use, the nature of the Internet offers no guarantee that your data is safe from being copied by another source. Contracts and agreements can mitigate that risk, but working with someone on a freelance basis carries a risk around data that needs to be controlled. Only give access to some systems, to some data, to some parts of the business, do not give full access to any freelancing employee.
Differences
This is especially true if you hire virtual assistants from remote locations such as India, the Philippines, China and Europe. The issue of a language barrier is not just a factor of diction and grammar but also cultural. Moreover, social nuances will come into play to create differences in perception that might make it difficult for you and your VA to understand each other when the both of you do not have the same lenses in life. However, it is all just a matter of respect for each other and making sure that everyone understands the job at hand.
Getting it Wrong
You might have found someone who, on paper, looks perfect. They do well in their interview and they have great communication skills, but then problems start. Their internet is sporadic, their attendance might be for the 8hrs a day that you have hired them for, but they start at times that are inconvenient, they say that they understand the project, but do such a bad job, that their understanding is clearly not the same as yours.
There are plenty more fish in the sea, but all too often, one bad experience can mean that the company does not try VA’s again. Don’t let one bad experience ruin it.
Going through a VA Company, or an agency, where there are project managers, and people to help the understanding of the job, can mean that you get a more experienced person, with the right skills and the right understanding.
