Hiring A Virtual Assistant Manager

 

Hiring A Virtual Assistant Manager

 

Virtual assistants are becoming more common in many businesses, and the larger your team of VAs is, the more important it is to hire a manager to ensure everything runs smoothly.

The manager is responsible for ensuring the virtual assistants do their job to the required standard by setting key performance indicators related to time management and quality of work.

It is also their responsibility to deal with holidays/sickness, identify the need for ongoing training, and establish if you need to hire more VAs.

Let me show you the best ways to manage a virtual assistant team.

Why Is It Important To Manage VAs?

Hiring a dedicated VA manager to look after all your virtual assistants is vital if you want your company to run smoothly. Small business owners hire virtual assistants to save on costs but not having someone to manage them will cause issues in the long term.

As VAs often work remotely from their home, it is vital that their work is up to the required standard and completed on time.

Hiring a manager to take care of all your virtual assistants regarding performance, training, holiday/sickness, and promotion opportunities allows you to concentrate on your core business.

Virtual assistants work remotely, so often, the manager needs to use time management software tools to monitor if they are performing tasks within the given time frame.

Most companies expect their VA manager to deal with any issues that virtual assistants have with other team members before involving the business owner. And keeping unnecessary distractions to a minimum will allow owners to focus on dollar productive tasks.

How Do You Manage Teams Of Virtual Assistants?

1 – Set Key Performance Indicators

A VA manager will have to set key performance indicators for all the remote workers who do general virtual assistant tasks.

The day-to-day tasks of a virtual assistant may be data entry, dealing with phone calls, email management, working on marketing projects, or even handling social media accounts. How they perform these tasks must be monitored.

Often when a worker is doing mundane tasks, their concentration levels drop, and setting them clear goals they have to reach helps them to stay focused.

Setting KPIs allows the manager to see each virtual assistant’s strengths and weaknesses, and the findings help the manager identify in which areas the workers need extra training.

Additionally, KPIs play a vital role when performing job evaluation assessments, as you can point out where the worker has failed to reach their goals.

2 – Monitor Task Completion Time

Monitoring task completion time is a vital part of project management, as every company should make efficiency one of their main priorities.

Some admin tasks will take longer than others, so if the manager finds that the administrative assistant is taking too long on a specific job, they can try to help solve the issue.

Often time management software tools are used to monitor the time a VA takes to perform specific tasks. These tools can prove invaluable in helping the manager assess the performance of a virtual assistant.

Many time and task tracking software are available such as Connectteam, Clockify, Hubstaff, Harvest, TimeTrack, TimeDoctor, and many more.

Some of the software is free, while others need a paid subscription. It is up to your VA manager to work out which software suits them best.

3 – Monitor Task Quality

The best way to monitor the task quality of the work carried out by your virtual assistant is to assess the accuracy of their work. A manager should set the standard required from your virtual assistance staff right from the start.

You must have a system in place where a manager can evaluate the standard of virtual assistant work that is being done.

Setting goals and incentives often help workers become more productive. However, accuracy and quality of performance should always take precedence.

If a worker struggles to produce high-quality work, it is the manager’s job to determine why and take appropriate action.

4 – Identify Training Requirements

When you manage a virtual assistant, you must always be able to identify what training requirements are needed. For example, the VAs you hire may do data entry work or general admin tasks, but they will still need training in how your business expects them to perform.

All business administration work, virtual or otherwise, needs staff to be trained to a certain level, this training can be provided by upper management, or an independent contractor can be hired to provide training required to get your workers up to speed.

For example, you may need additional training for a particular project which requires a specific skill set.

Therefore, it is always good to have a to-do list regarding training requirements.

5 – Determine Upskill Opportunities

Suppose a virtual assistant performs well and shows commitment, dedication, and ambition. In that case, it makes good business management sense to upskill the worker by providing training to help them do other tasks.

For example, the virtual assistant may be doing data entry tasks. Still, they have shown a keen interest in learning new skills in graphic design, social media, content writing, or digital marketing. It is up to the manager to assess if they are suitable for upskilling.

It is always a great idea for small businesses or start-ups to try to keep hold of their most dedicated VA staff and their in-house employees.

Businesses must create opportunities for all team members to enhance their skills in whatever areas benefit the worker and the company.

A business may need to start a new marketing campaign using social media. Upskilling a virtual administrative assistant by providing marketing training will benefit this project and future ones.

6 – Maintain Holiday Calendars

The job of an excellent VA manager is not just about the work the VAs do. They also have to look after and maintain the holiday calendars of all your VAs.

Keeping a close eye on staffing levels is integral to the manager’s role, as you don’t want to have a virtual personal assistant on holiday when the company starts a new project.

All business services need to run well even when workers are on holiday or sick leave, and that takes good organisational and planning skills.

It doesn’t matter if you are a large or small business. You will still need to use software tools such as Evernote, Fantastical, Google Calendar, Accompany, and Outlook to help maintain holiday calendars.

Your VA manager should have the skills to use one of these software tools easily. It helps them create holiday rotas and assess when they need to hire a temporary virtual assistant to cover the holiday period.

7 – Identify Team Expansion Requirements

Apart from day-to-day personal tasks, good project management requires the manager to identify when team expansion is needed.

For example, your company may focus on gaining new clients through an extensive marketing campaign that requires VAs with skills in marketing and social media.

When a company decides to expand their workforce to help them on one project, they often use  virtual assistant service providers they have used in the past.

In this case, it is up to the manager to find suitable VAs they can hire on a short-term project.

Hiring workers who offer virtual assistant services allows the company flexibility and value for money. For example, there is little point in hiring a full-time administrative assistant to work on a project that will only last six months.

Find Out How We Can Manage Your VAs

As we have explained above, hiring a VA manager is essential to keep your business running smoothly and effectively.

Every layer of your business should have good management in place.

If hiring a manager to look after your remote workers isn’t something you have excellent knowledge of, let our virtual assistant agency help you.

We have experience in providing the right VA managers to help your business. It will also save you stress, time, and money.

Contact us today to find out more details on how quickly we can find the right manager.

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