7 Tips For A Successful Virtual Assistant Onboarding Process

 

7 Tips For A Successful Virtual Assistant Onboarding Process

 

The virtual assistant onboarding process can prove tricky, and you want to make sure things run as smoothly as possible so that the productivity of your business improves.

When a business hires a virtual assistant, the onboarding process is key to how successful the working relationship will become. If the proper onboarding steps are taken at the beginning, it helps in the long term.

There are many things to consider when you hire a new virtual assistant, and the onboarding process can become overwhelming. This article explains seven top tips to help you get onboarding right for your business.

Why Is Onboarding So Important?

It is essential that the onboarding meeting with your new VA goes well. In the meeting, you must explain your company’s philosophies and what the company can offer and help to make the person feel comfortable before they begin working.

Good onboarding is not just a quick introductory meeting. It can take weeks or months to create an environment where your new VA feels totally at ease with their role within your business.

The VA onboarding process will include filling out personal details for payroll, working hours, and specific work requirements, but it also involves much more, as you will find out below.

Our Top Tips For Virtual Assistant Onboarding Process

Tip 1: IT Systems

Virtual assistants must get to grips with your company’s IT system. Getting their IT login credentials set up in advance is crucial when hiring virtual assistants. Setting the VA up on your IT system for their start day ensures they feel a part of the team and saves time.

The new team member will need their email on your company’s domain and an email signature that displays the role they have within the company.

Your virtual assistant may also need a company phone number and access to company social media accounts, calendar platforms and apps, task management software, and instant messaging and video calling software.

Depending on what role virtual assistants are hired for, they may need access to expense accounting software, travel planning accounts, and CRM for contact management.

Additionally, if your virtual assistant is making purchases for the company, they will need a company credit card or access to e-commerce accounts.

It would help if you used a tool such as LastPass, a password encryption tool that protects and tracks login passwords. These passwords should be secure and changed every two months.

Tip 2: Business Process Documentation

Everyone must be on the same page regarding the tasks included in a job role for virtual assistants.

In a virtual assistant business, the VA will work in a separate location from you and other staff. Therefore you must give final details on how you need each task performed.

All the tasks, including new ones, must be documented so that the workflow runs smoothly to avoid confusion.

There are many things where you need your virtual assistant to do something a certain way. Here are some examples.

Meeting Times

Meetings are productive but can also take up much of your time. Therefore, your virtual assistant must know how much time you want to spend on each meeting, such as networking meetings, sales calls, and calls with new clients.

Buffer Times

Buffer times refer to the amount of time you need between meetings at a particular time.

Invitation Template

The way information is relayed is vital. For example, some like it on their calendar, while others prefer an email.

Travel Preferences

You may have company accounts with hotels, car rental firms, taxi firms, and airlines. Make sure  your VA has all the relevant details.

Tip 3: Communicate, Communicate, Communicate

Communication is critical in any business environment, and there is no such thing as over-communicating, even basic information, during the early stages of onboarding.

Face-to-face interaction is not possible with a virtual assistant as they work remotely. Therefore make sure you are crystal clear with all the information for tasks you need your virtual assistant to perform.

It is essential to remember your virtual assistant can’t second guess what you need. Setting a clear guideline of how you like to stay in contact to relay information is vital. Daily emails or instant messaging are standard practices, but you must have scheduled check-ins via video call.

Your virtual assistant will need to keep you updated with reminders for scheduled meetings. They must know what timescale is best to send these reminders. For example, you may want to be reminded weekly or daily.

Remember always to provide feedback on how things are going. This is best done via email then a phone call or video call. Providing positive feedback to all staff members helps make them feel valued and increases their productivity.

Positive feedback is especially crucial for virtual assistants so that they continue to feel a part of the wider team.

Tip 4: Write Up Standard Operating Procedures

Every business needs standard operating procedures that every staff member needs to adhere to. So when you hire virtual assistants, they need to comply with the standards your company sets out.

Standard operating procedures should set the context, policies, and strategies to help with business growth.

When everyone meets standards, it helps reduce errors and increase efficiency while creating a healthy working environment.

Well-set-out company standards are essential to help your business grow and help with the client onboarding process.

They also help staff fully understand your company’s services and know who to contact if they have a problem and need support with a related issue.

Each employee should have access to a written company code of practice, including the company’s values, vision, and primary mission.

Also included in this statement will be the company history, organisational charts, and staff internal contact lists, which include emails and phone numbers.

Each new staff member must also go through software tutorials, security standards, and health and safety procedures.

The document must include template files for sales follow-up emails, email invitations with brand colours, and presentation templates.

Tip 5: Set Performance Levels And KPIs

Setting key performance indicators will help you track your virtual assistant’s overall performance.

When hiring any staff member, it is vital to set clear job expectations immediately. In addition, it helps to build trust and forge a good working relationship.

Your assistant needs to know the level of service you expect from them and what they can expect from you as a boss.

There is little point in complaining about poor job performance if you set the KPIs three months after the VA started working for your company. There need to be clear expectations in place from the outset.

Work hours, payment terms, payment schedule, and overtime payment must be set out before hiring the person.

The person you hire must know which tools are used to set deadlines. For example, log time worked, request time off, track task progress, and deal with sick leave.

When the performance of tasks is relatively measured, it helps to create trust and keep your virtual assistant interested in delivering success for your company.

A scheduled performance management meeting must take place with your virtual assistant to discuss performance levels. In addition, when you require your virtual assistant to perform new tasks, they must be given time to settle before setting KPIs related to these.

Tip 6: Introduce Your Other VAs And Employees

Staff introductions and new members are sometimes overlooked, leading to a feeling of not being part of the team. This is especially the case for remote workers.

Your virtual assistant will be working with other members of staff and clients daily, so they must form a good working relationship with all concerned.

Send a welcome email to your virtual assistant, and including all staff members and relevant clients will help to break the ice. In addition, the email should consist of the tasks and services your virtual assistant will be responsible for.

Many companies conduct a virtual tour of the office and facilities to make them feel a fundamental part of the team.

You will also need to schedule a staff group video call to introduce the new member informally to everyone. One-to-one introduction calls can also be arranged for work-related discussions.

When dealing with a new client or potential client, it is essential that your virtual assistant shadows while other team members perform the key processes. This way, they can familiarise themselves with the way things are done.

Shadowing can also be done with sales and customer services calls, where you can show them a recording of someone making the call to show them what is expected.

Tip 7: Start With Small Tasks

Businesses often expect too much from their new members of staff straight away. Therefore, you must ensure you allow your virtual assistant a period of settling time.

An excellent way to ease the person into their new role is to establish your preferences for how you want things to run.

Let them know how your systems run, such as the format of calendar items and colour-coding, when to use video calls or just phone calls, how you like to make discovery calls to attract a new client, how regularly you have meetings, and so on.

Your virtual assistant must know when to schedule meetings and the time you like to have between appointments. Setting reminders is vital so show them how you want it done.

If you need to book rooms within the office or have conferences outside the office, then your virtual assistant will need to know how to book them and confirm who is attending,

Do not expect your new virtual assistant to do everything immediately, so start by asking them to arrange one meeting at a time.

With time comes confidence, and it is vital that you both feel confident in the way you run your daily tasks. It will take time to build up to your virtual assistant performing inbox management with ease.

Offering help and support in the early stages will prove invaluable in building a solid understanding between you.

Call Us Today For Help With Your VA Onboarding

So we have established that onboarding is essential in creating a smooth transition when hiring a new virtual assistant.

Implementing good practices from the start will help your company maintain business growth without encountering significant future issues with your new staff member.

As you have read, communication is key when hiring any service. However, some companies like to let outside agencies handle everything, especially with little experience in hiring.

We can help you with everything from identifying, interviewing, hiring, training, and managing the right virtual assistant to meet all your business needs,

Let us do all the hard work while saving you time, money, and effort. Call us today to find out how easy the hiring process is.

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