Onboarding a remote employee for your business does not end following the hiring process. After choosing the best candidate, employers and team leaders need to train the newly hired virtual assistant to make sure they understand their specific roles and tasks.
If you recently employed a remote worker or plan to engage a virtual staff, here’s a peek at what steps to take after the hiring process. Learn about the best tips on conducting your virtual assistant training program.
Virtual Assistant Training Tips & Strategies
Invest a generous amount of time
Employers must expect that training new workers is a time-consuming process. For virtual assistants to become fully equipped to perform specific tasks for a business, employers must spend time explaining the duty and its details.
Experts created a 30x rule for training. According to the training rule, employers should set aside 30 times the time it takes to finish a task to teach someone how to do it. For instance, if a task takes 20 minutes to complete, employers should set aside 600 minutes of training a new virtual assistant.
The advised amount of time may appear too much. However, employers must keep in mind that it is significant to invest a generous amount of time in training to gain long-term benefits. A virtual assistant with the proper training and sufficient skills can perform more responsibilities and add value to the company. Increased work productivity sounds better than minimizing the time for training programs and throwing new staff in the middle of the workplace they do not fully understand.
Appoint an experienced or in-house remote employee to lead
When conducting virtual training for remote employees, managers can teach the new hire and introduce them to the team simultaneously by delegating some practices to other employees. Managers must identify the employees who excel in each specific task to train the new hire to do the same.
This strategy is effective if your company has multiple experienced virtual assistants. However, if it is your first time hiring a remote employee, you can connect with a professional with virtual assistant skills and appoint them as a trainer.
Employers may share the duty of training new virtual assistants but are still responsible for teaching the company policies, culture, and other contextual knowledge that can help the new VA get up and running.
Clearly define the work role and position
During the duration of the training process, employers must explain to the new virtual assistant their specific role and position in the company. Clearly defining the responsibilities of the new hire provides positive reinforcement to the new hire in becoming a successful virtual assistant.
Employers can review the job descriptions they created for the hiring process. Commonly, job descriptions indicate and outline all of the tasks and responsibilities of a virtual assistant.
To achieve a stellar virtual assistant career, a remote employee must have the skills for basic VA duties like:
- Administrative support
- Data entry
- E-commerce management online business operations
- Social medial marketing
- Project management
- Search engine optimization
- Problem-solving skills
If your company requires a virtual assistant to perform other tasks that are more distinct to cater to your business needs, it is crucial to discuss the matter with the new employee. The discussion makes sure both the employer and virtual assistant are on the same page. Moreover, early communication sets an open environment for both parties to feel comfortable in expressing their work ideas.
Set realistic and optimistic expectations
When employers open up their companies for work-from-home jobs, they must refrain from comparing the workflow of in-office employees and remote team members. The two work arrangements are distinguishable so expectations must be different too.
An online report mentioned setting expectations is an important step during a virtual assistant training course because measurement is an essential management tool, as it helps people determine if their work is making an impact, demonstrate value, manage resources, and focus improvement efforts. To prepare the new hire, employers must discuss how tasks should be done rather than what should be accomplished. Setting realistic and optimistic expectations includes timeline oversight and communication practices.
As a business owner, you have the company’s data and capability to create key performance indicators. KPIs are the critical quantifiable indicators of progress toward an intended result. They provide a focus for strategic and operational improvement, create an analytical basis for decision-making, and help focus attention on what matters most.
Provide Accesible Instructions
Professionals conducting virtual assistant courses agree that employers must provide trainees with accessible instructional materials required to fulfill their tasks. These materials aid the new hire become a virtual assistant your business can rely on.
It is an efficient way to ensure a newly hired virtual assistant can refer to accessible instructions at any time rather than repeatedly asking co-workers for directions.
Share Virtual References And Recordings
For individuals without their virtual assistant business, the last tip for driving a virtual assisting journey is creating video recordings or screen-captioned footage that will serve as instructional visuals. This is a simple approach to having the best virtual assistant course.
Becoming a virtual assistant may sound uncomplicated but working in a new and remote environment has challenges. As an employer, you can conduct your in-house training with some guidance from the discussed tips or you can also connect with a successful virtual assistant business that offers a certified virtual assisting program. Either way, it is important to acknowledge that newly hired virtual assistants require training and develop familiarity with the proper legal business structure.
6 Benefits Of Having A Remote Employee With VA Assistant Training
1. Save time From Tedious tasks
Virtual assistants are well-known for handling administrative tasks and repetitive tasks.
To free up time for more important roles, a startup business or freelance business owner can hire virtual assistants to handle administrative duties. This way, executives can focus on building key relationships for business growth.
2. Boost Work Efficiency
Helping boost work efficiency is another one of the many benefits of a virtual assistant.
As mentioned, a VA can manage time-consuming tasks like scheduling meetings and answering phone calls. Virtual assistants generally help businesses with non-core tasks yet are still vital in running day-to-day operations.
3. Reduce Operation Cost
Hiring a certified virtual assistant reduces operational costs because they do not require office space. You may save money on electricity, cleaning services, other utility bills, and even employee benefits as a business owner.
Generally, virtual assistant salaries are modest compared to an onsite full-time employee. A remote employee can provide inexpensive yet invaluable services like an onsite worker.
4. Gain Access To Specialized Skills and Services
Traditionally, companies are geographically limited when hiring skilled individuals. The rise of remote work opportunities has opened access for employers to hire qualified candidates from anywhere in the world.
5. Reduced Micromanagement
Most virtual assistants have experience in handling multiple clients. Their professional background greatly supports business productivity. With their time-management skills, a virtual assistant can accomplish daily tasks and provide administrative support even with minimal supervision.
6. Improved Customer Service
Hiring a virtual assistant can help enhance the customer service of any business.
When the staff of your company is only located in one area, coping with global needs and different time zones can take time and effort. To address the problem, business owners have now started hiring VAs from different regions and countries to provide 24/7 customer assistance to their clients.
Your business can continue to operate at your desired time, and the social media accounts of your business can be updated even when you are not in the office when you hire a virtual assistant with exceptional skills. With their specialized services and advanced communication tools, virtual assistants offer smart business solutions.
Minimize Stress, Hire A Highly-Skilled Remote Employee
Training a new employee takes time. Suppose you feel overwhelmed thinking about all the strategies on how to execute the best virtual assistant courses. In that case, you can easily connect with a reliable outsourcing-offshoring company like Remote Raven.
Remote Raven has an outstanding track record of providing workforce solutions to companies that need virtual assistance. A dedicated VA can perform various tasks that will boost productivity at work.
Connect With The Best Workforce Solutions Company & Virtual Assistant Business
Contact Remote Raven now to start discussing the process of finding a qualified remote employee for your business. The company exclusively works with Filipino VAs. We can connect you with remote workers suitable for an entry-level position, or a managerial position.
Schedule an appointment with Remote Raven and we will discuss on how to create job listings and post a job ad on accredited websites in the Philippines. The agency has Filipino Recruitment Specialists with connections to highly skilled and trained candidates. We can provide you with a list of competent applicants and perform background checks before you start hiring.
Always remember, find virtual assistants only from trusted websites and accredited outsourcing companies!
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