Hiring virtual assistants (VAs) is increasingly popular as a business strategy for enhancing efficiency, reducing costs, and accessing specialized skills. To do this, you have two options: work with a VA agency or hire freelancers individually. Each option has pros and cons that can significantly affect your business. This post discusses the advantages and disadvantages of hiring through a VA agency. Use this information to guide you toward making an informed decision that aligns with your specific needs and goals.
What is a VA Agency?
But first, let’s look into how VA agencies work. A VA agency is a company that provides remote assistance services through a team of individuals with distinct VA skills. VA agencies connect businesses with remote workers and freelancers, streamlining the process of hiring, managing, and utilizing VAs.
When hiring VAs, a VA agency can handle the following tasks for you:
- Recruitment and vetting – including recruiting, screening, and assessing the skills of potential candidates
- Onboarding and training – including orientation, training, and continuously updating VA skills
- Assessment of VA needs – including initial consultation with clients, identifying tasks required, and detailing the roles and responsibilities of the position
- Matching and assignment – including profile matching client requirements with VA skills and experience, facilitating client and VA candidate interviews, and assigning projects to the chosen VA
- Project management and support – including facilitating project kickoff, providing communication and project management tools, and conducting regular check-ins to monitor and track progress
- Quality assurance – including monitoring VA performance, gathering client feedback, and handling disputes or performance issues.
- Administrative and financial management – including handling contracts and agreements, invoicing and processing payments, and ensuring legal compliance
- Backup and continuity – including providing backup in case of unavailable VA, adjusting service levels, and changing VAs
Advantages of Hiring Through a VA Agency
Working with a VA agency offers several advantages over directly hiring freelancers. Here are some key benefits:
1. Ease of Management
A VA agency provides centralized communication or a single point of contact, allowing you to easily communicate, coordinate, and manage your VA. A VA agency already has well-established workflows and management systems, allowing you to save time on administrative tasks such as processing your VA’s work hours, calculating their salary, etc.
2. Reliability and Continuity
As mentioned, agencies can provide VA substitutes if your assigned VA is unavailable. They always have a VA on deck for quick substitutions, guaranteeing the continuity of work. VA agencies also have stable operations that can consistently manage VAs, ensuring that workloads are handled, and deadlines are met.
3. Quality Assurance
Most VA agencies follow strict vetting processes that include rigorous background checking and training to ensure that their VAs deliver high-quality services and professionalism. A VA agency can also perform regular performance reviews and quality checks to maintain its service standards and client satisfaction.
4. Access to a Diverse Skill Set
Legitimate VA agencies have a large network of professionals with broad skill sets, making it easy to choose candidates without searching for multiple freelancers. In addition, this also allows you the option to consider and hire one candidate for multiple roles. For complex projects, an agency can also easily assign several VAs who can work collaboratively to support your company.
5. Administrative Support
On top of a VA taking some administrative tasks off your hands, hiring one from a reputable agency provides additional support. An agency saves you time and effort in handling the onboarding and training of VAs. You can also simplify your financial transactions by letting the agency manage the invoicing and payments for you.
6. Scalability
Working with a VA agency provides greater scalability than directly hiring individual freelancers. You can avail flexible agency contract plans that you can easily scale up or down based on your changing business needs or project goals. Agencies can also quickly allocate additional VAs as your business demands increase, saving you the trouble of searching for VAs that may not work great with your current team.
7. Security and Compliance
Most VA agencies have well-established data protection processes and systems that you can leverage to protect your sensitive information. They can also help you draw up your own specific confidentiality agreements and policies for your added protection. Established agencies are also more likely to adhere to industry regulations and compliance standards than individual freelancers.
8. Time Efficiency
VA agencies can provide time savings when hiring VAs. They already have a roster of vetted and trained freelancers, so there is a good chance that they can assign you one as soon as you tell them of your VA requirements. If you encounter any issues with a current VA, they can also replace them just as easily, minimizing business disruptions or downtime on your projects.
Disadvantages of Hiring Through a VA Agency
While VA agencies can streamline your VA hiring process, working with one comes with a set of drawbacks that you need to be aware of. The disadvantages of hiring VAs through an agency include:
1. Higher Costs
VA agencies charge their clients for overhead costs, service fees, and other expenses. Thus, you may need to pay higher rates than hiring individual freelancers. Hiring from an agency also limits your ability to negotiate for lower rates or more favorable terms.
2. Less Personalization
Most agencies offer standardized services that may not be suitable for your specific needs. Hiring directly can provide you with more personalized services with a freelancer who can adapt more flexibly to your requirements. Also, you have less direct control over an agency VA because of the agency-mediated communication that can affect you and your VA’s working relationship.
3. Potential for Mismatched Assignments
VA agencies limit your choices and your control over VA assignments. They might assign you a VA based only on availability instead of your specific needs or preferences. Some agencies also allow you a limited opportunity to personally vet or interview potential VAs before you hire them. Thus, you are more likely to get a VA that is not the best fit for your work assignments.
4. Communication Barriers
An agency results in indirect communication and delayed response times. Compared to a direct interaction with a freelancer, working through an agency has a higher risk of miscommunications and related issues. Furthermore, some agencies follow strict or formal communication protocols that can potentially lead to slower response times.
5. Possible Inconsistencies
Agencies can have management issues that can lead to high VA turnover rates. As a result, you may encounter frequent changes in your assigned VA that can cause disruptions in your workflow and project timelines. You can also experience variations in service quality which, despite agency standards, can still happen depending on your VA assignments.
6. Limited Relationship Building
Agencies can make it difficult for you to build a close working relationship with a VA. Unlike with a direct freelance, you can’t easily establish a direct rapport with an agency VA. With limited relationship building, you have minimal VA loyalty. They will not feel personally invested in your projects and will rarely go above and beyond their assigned responsibilities.
More Pros with Remote Raven
Considering the above pros and cons is critical to your successful and beneficial working relationship with a VA. Ultimately, your decision to hire directly or through an agency should be guided by your specific needs and goals. If you require consistent, high-quality support and are willing to invest in a structured, managed service, a VA agency may be the ideal choice. On the other hand, if you prioritize flexibility, direct control, and cost savings, hiring freelancers individually might be more suitable.
If you want the best of both worlds, consider Remote Raven. We offer affordable rates, referrals to top-notch professionals, and flexible management. Our close to two decades of experience in the VA industry has taught us that there is no one-size-fits-all solution to VA needs. We know that what works with one client will not always work with another. If you let us, we can work together to find the ideal solution for your unique VA needs.
If you are still in doubt, you can discuss your concerns with our outsourcing experts for free. Experience more pros with Remote Raven today!
