A virtual employee can be an excellent alternative to hiring an in-house employee, especially if you are considering your first hire.
Virtual employees work remotely and are most often employed by a third-party company, so you are essentially buying a service from that company, which means you don’t have to worry about payroll processing or tax liabilities.
Advantages of Working with Virtual Employees
Technology has gone a very long way in making what was virtually impossible back then, a normal day in the office today.
Who would have thought that having an employee who’s not in the same office would be possible?
The truth is there’s more to it to working with virtual employees than just the perks brought about by technology.
Build your Business Faster
By spending less time with the tactical workload and focusing on your “CEO” responsibilities, you’ll be able to scale your business faster than you originally projected.
It helps a lot when you have an “employee” managing your non-core processes because you don’t have to worry about them getting done without running out of time.
Ease of Hiring and Recruitment
Let’s be honest: hiring is a pain!
Not all business owners are blessed with time to go through dozens of resumes or conduct interviews to find the right person. This is one area that makes virtual employees a valuable option.
A virtual agency can manage this entire process on your behalf.
Legal issues, IT concerns, and the entire hiring process, in particular, can take so much of your time if you have to do them all alone. This shouldn’t be any of your concern anymore when you have a virtual staffing service doing all of them for you.
It’s certainly faster and more convenient than trying to find every hire yourself.
Slash Staffing Costs
Paying for employees’ salaries is one thing but shouldering overhead costs?
That’s entirely different.
Hiring an in-house employee automatically puts you in charge of paying for overhead costs like office space rental, office supplies, IT services (laptops, desktops, monitors, hardware, software, etc,), and ancillary services just to name a few.
While you’re technically hiring full-time staff in virtual employees, what makes them a better alternative is that you don’t have to cover similar expenses because the virtual agency is in charge of most of them.
The third-party company that employs them will be in charge of where they work and the technology they use which gives you fewer headaches and stuff to worry about.
Business Continuity
One of the things that make hiring virtual employees a worthy consideration is that you don’t have to worry about some of the “nightmares” of hiring a freelancer.
Time and again, we’ve heard stories of freelancers abandoning work all of a sudden or just disappearing– never to be heard from again. That’s awful, especially if they left a project hanging.
In such situations, you’ll probably be going out of your mind trying to find an equally good replacement, which, as we all know, is never easy.
This is not something you’ll need to worry about if you hire a virtual employee. The third-party company they work for has processes in place to keep this from happening.
Should a new hire not be the perfect fit, the company will be in charge of finding you a replacement and taking care of everything. That gives you the peace of mind you need to keep your business running despite the temporary setback.
Drawbacks to Hiring Virtual Employees
Despite the benefits it has to offer, hiring virtual employees has its downsides too and below are some of them:
Inaccessibility
There’s no such thing as a perfect system and no matter how cautious you are, issues are bound to surface when you least expect them.
When you work with people remotely, addressing emergency problems like equipment malfunction or server downtimes can be a bit difficult. You can’t easily organize a meeting or get a hold of everyone immediately so you can keep them posted.
While it is possible, organizing your team may take some time compared to when you have them all in one location.
Lack of Social Interaction
Social interaction is arguably a huge factor in promoting camaraderie and teamwork but when you work with someone you don’t see or speak with (at least on a personal level). Because of that, collaboration may not be as smooth as you expect it to be.
Sure, you’ll still speak to your virtual employee frequently, but most of the time, these interactions are purely business-related.
Working together is far more effective when you get to actually personally talk to them, go out to lunch with them, or simply hang out.
When it comes to working with virtual employees, isolation is one of your worse enemies.
Risk to Reputation
While this perception is certainly changing, one of the biggest concerns in hiring virtual employees is that you run the risk of being labeled as a “non-legit” firm.
Will you still deliver the same quality service without a big expensive office downtown?
Some potential customers might judge your company if they find out you work with virtual employees. (But the right customers won’t care!)
How Much do Virtual Employees Cost?
Hiring a virtual employee can cost you anywhere from $140 to $1995 per month on average.
Different companies offer varying pricing plans and packages with some opting for a per hour rate that can begin from $5 up to a high of $30 depending on skills and location.
As expected, the more skilled and seasoned ones will definitely cost more.
Virtual employees living in the US or Western Europe also tend to be more expensive compared to those who are located in other countries.
Make sure to check with the company what each plan or package entails so you’ll get maximum value for your money.
Which Virtual Employee Company Should You Choose?
Going the virtual employee route obviously brings a lot of benefits to the table. Not only will you be getting the services of an expert, but you’ll also have them working for you exclusively which means you’ll have their undivided attention.
Hiring a virtual employee off of a virtual staffing company is an excellent way of having a full-time staff at a much lower price.
Read reviews from real virtual employee companies to find one that best meets your needs.
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20four7VA (EconMobile LLC dba 20four7VA) is an American-owned virtual staffing agency licensed and insured in Maryland, USA. Their staff and virtual assistants (VAs) are based all over the world and work remotely. Read on for a detailed 20four7VA review. 20four7VA […]
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Outsourcely is a virtual assistant company based in Foresthill, CA. They make it easy to connect with virtual assistants through their platform and have a large number of remote workers based all over the world. The company began with a […]
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Remote Staff, or remotestaff.com.au, is an Australia-based staff leasing company that specializes in virtual employee recruitment. The company was founded in 2007, and has placed nearly 4000 workers in remote jobs since then. Remote Staff will find you a home-based […]
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UPDATE: Sidekicks has pivoted to a “different type of business model.” Please consider one of these alternatives. Sidekicks enables entrepreneurs and business owners to quickly hire and build their own virtual teams. The company does this by connecting clients with hand-picked […]
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Don’t Panic Management was founded in 2011 with a simple goal in mind: to help busy entrepreneurs, creatives, authors, and thought leaders get back to the work that brings them joy and purpose. Don’t Panic’s team of US-based virtual assistants […]
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UPDATE: It appears Genie Desk is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Genie Desk is Kolkata, India based virtual assistant company. The company was founded in 2012 and began sourcing clients through a variety of the freelance […]
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Update: It appears Virtual Assistant Staffing is out of business. Please see our full list of virtual assistant companies for well-rated alternatives. Virtual Assistant Staffing is a unique virtual assistant company based out of Seattle. However, don’t expect to see […]
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UPDATE: It appears Virtual Hires is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Virtual Hires is a remote-staffing agency based in the Philippines. Since 2008, they have specialized in providing full-time virtual employees in four categories: writers, virtual […]
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UPDATE: It appears Trade Virtual Services is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Trade Virtual Services is a small but growing virtual assistant and outsourced marketing company in India. They were founded in 2011 by a couple […]
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UPDATE: It appears Virtual Assistant Freedom is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Virtual Assistant Freedom is a virtual assistant company with presence in the Philippines and in India. According to the copyright date, the company was […]
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UPDATE: It appears Virtual Assistant Gold is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Virtual Assistant Gold is a virtual staffing company in the Philippines. The company was founded in 2010 and maintains its US-headquarters in Cincinnati, Ohio. […]
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RemoteJobs.ninja was created to link talent with opportunities in a digital world. With rising demand for remote work due to technology and workforce changes, RemoteJobs.ninja was founded in 2021 to connect companies with remote talent across industries, streamlining the hiring […]
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Extend Your Team is a virtual assistant company specializing in providing experienced virtual assistants to small and medium-sized companies all over the world. The company is headquartered in the US, and all of their assistants are based in the Philippines. […]
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Xceed Agents is a virtual assistant and full-service outsourcing company based in Noida, India. Founded in 2008, the company has grown beyond the normal virtual assistant business model and expanded into a wide variety of service types. In addition to […]
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Are you looking for reliable, high-skilled virtual assistants to help streamline your business operations? Whether you’re a small business owner, entrepreneur, or part of a larger organization, Somewhere.com offers a solution that meets the growing demands of today’s fast-paced, globalized […]
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5 Star VAs is a virtual assistant recruiting service with a twist. The Philippines-based company offers both “unmanaged” and “co-managed” matchmaking services. The company was founded in 2013 and has attracted a growing client base since then. When the co-founder, Neil […]
Are you ready to update customer service on a large scale? CoSupport AI is an all-in-one AI-powered platform designed for businesses managing large daily customer interaction volumes. It uses powerful AI Business Intelligence, intelligent AI Assistants for human teams, and […]
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Noon Dalton is a virtual assistant and business process outsourcing company in India, with call center support in the Philippines and a front-end sales offices in Florida and New York. The company gets its very-non-SEO name from its two co-founders, […]
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Virtual Assistant Talent is well-known virtual assistant company in the Philippines. The firm was founded in 2010 by John Davern, Jr., a human resources professional and real estate investor. The company specializes in helping busy entrepreneurs maximize their time with […]
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Ataraxis Hiring the right virtual assistant (VA) can be transformative for businesses by freeing up time, reducing costs, and scaling operations. But sifting through freelancer marketplaces or vetting candidates globally is time-consuming and risky. Ataraxis solves this by offering pre-vetted, […]