4 Tips to Help You Get the Most Out of Your Virtual Workers

Employee engagement is important to the success of any business.

Every business wants to make the most out of their workers, and it is no different with remote employees. Virtual workers are unique in that they might not meet you in person and physically work in office, however, this doesn't mean you should ignore them. Remote workers are given the ability to work anywhere around the world, so wherever they are, they can still contribute to your business. Whether they’re an administrative assistant or a department manager, you can take steps to ensure their contribution is the best it can be.

Virtual administrative assistants can be game-changers to your business’s productivity. It isn’t easy to find a superstar executive assistant, which is why when you’ve found one, it’s important to do your best to keep them around, engaged, and productive. 

Here are four tips to make sure you're getting the most out of your virtual administrative assistant:

1. Schedule Weekly Team Meetings

There are many reasons that you should hold weekly team meetings, from making sure everyone is on the same page to promoting interaction between colleagues. Weekly team meetings also allow the employees to ask different questions, look for clarifications, and enable you to make sure everyone is on track and schedule. 

Finally, because of the "lonely" nature of remote work, team meetings help build good working relationships between workers, allowing them to be much more comfortable working with each other. Moreover, don't forget the primary purpose of the sessions: to build a sense of unity.

2. Meet Individual Remote Worker Weekly

Meeting with each remote worker is just as important as holding group meetings. These personalized one-to-ones allow you to provide feedback and support to your administrative assistant. You're also able to discuss the changes that the virtual team member needs to make to enhance productivity. At the same time, the administrative assistant can provide feedback and suggestions on what you can do to help him or her perform better. 

The best thing about individual meetings is it gives a sense of value to your workers. By spending time with each employee, they know you’ve given your time and effort to help them succeed. It also allows you to create accountability measures for the work they perform. 

Finally, private one-to-ones give you the chance to praise for the great work the worker has done. This can be the difference between administrative assistants that put their best foot forward and those who couldn't care less.

3. Provide Performance Reviews

Excellent virtual assistants are always on the lookout to understand how they can improve their work. It gives them the reason to improve themselves and become more satisfied with the work they perform. One of the best ways you can encourage this is to provide performance reviews. 

When your team members know their performance is monitored, they work harder to achieve the best results. The same can be said about virtual assistants. By letting them know how you're going to rate their performance and what standards you have, they know how hard they must work to meet your expectations.

4. Share Your Vision and Goals

In-house workers are exposed to your company's vision daily. It is what connects them to your company, working hard to reach goals. For remote workers, it can be harder to achieve, but that by no means reduces the importance of getting them connected to your company on a personal level. 

With that said, you should always share your company goals, missions, and visions with your virtual workers. Having the entire company aligned to common goals and objectives ensures each employee understands their contribution and how it impacts results.

By following our tips, you can ensure you're getting the most out of your remote workers. Remember, they're the ones keeping your business running. By making sure they feel connected to your company, they'll give their all to make your venture successful.

4 Reasons Startups Need Virtual Assistants

A fractional virtual assistant can help keep your startup moving.

Startup businesses need to focus on improving their products, services, and the overall infrastructure of the company to make sure they are positioned for future growth. With this, in the early stages, founders and first employees generally have their hands full with important decisions on growing the business. From strategy and product development to operations and delivery, there are lots of things to do. There are also loads of basic administrative tasks to support the early days.

Feeling overwhelmed with it all? Maybe a virtual assistant can ease the pressure and help keep things running smoothly. Here are four reasons this makes sense.

1. They Can Take Care of Your Inboxes for You

Answering emails can seem like the most trivial task in a company — but it’s still an essential part of the whole process. If you can’t afford to allocate an employee to respond to them full-time, you can have a virtual assistant do this instead. If you don’t have to spare the space in your office, or don’t need full-time help, it’s a much more cost-efficient and scalable option in the long-run.

2. They Can Help With Scheduling

Another thing your virtual can help with is scheduling tasks. These assignments require a lot of time to optimize and your internal employees may not have the time to do all of these by themselves. You can have a virtual assistant find available timeslots in the week and arrange meetings, talk to suppliers, or even book a team dinner. Every scheduling task you need, your virtual assistant can help you with it — and more.

3. They Can Keep Track of the Key Points of Each Meeting

When you have lots of meetings, the messages from each one can start to boil together, making it difficult to identify the key takeaways from each one. If you have your virtual assistant with you in the meeting, you can have them jot down the essential points. You can later review the points and take action as needed. You won’t be under as much stress compared to if you had to record everything on your own. Plus, the time saved will allow you to focus on other more important things.

4. They Can Carry Out Administrative Tasks

Most companies go through an incredible amount of documents, data, and information in a day. Established companies can always hire more administrators to take care of these tasks, but for a startup, it’s not always a viable option. If you’re having this problem, you can hire a virtual assistant to take care of these tasks for you. Whether it is filing paperwork online, entering data into your CRM, or running payroll, your assistant can provide the necessary support to keep you and the business on track.

If you’re looking for a professional virtual assistant to assist you, My BTLR is here to help. Our USA based assistants are background checked, skills testes, and ready to start immediately. Get in touch with us today to see how we can help.

How Going Virtual Can Improve Your Company Culture

A remote workforce doesn’t mean you can’t have a great company culture.

The workplace has been transforming toward a more digital landscape in recent years, thanks largely to technological advancements. This presents great benefits for businesses, not only in improving their sales but also in creating a different company culture.

Today, with the internet and cloud computing, employees can work anywhere. Many employers are increasingly hiring remote workers and are transitioning into a virtual workplace. With that comes a couple of questions about how it can change the usual company culture developed in a physical office.

Here are some of the benefits of how virtual workplace can improve your company’s existing culture:

It Eliminates Commuting

Tens of millions of workers commute to their workplace every day. And, It takes an average of 30 minutes to one hour to reach their offices — and can take even longer, depending on the traffic situation. By the time they arrive at the office, they are likely stressed from the commute and are not immediately productive at work. Then, after work, the process starts all over again and they have to spend the same amount of time to get home — adding to even more stress. With a virtual workplace, your employees can work from home, which can improve the quality of their life and reduce their stress levels. The time saved from commuting can be used for other productive tasks instead.

It Provides Flexibility

Time flexibility is one of the benefits virtual workplace employees like best. They can go to a doctor’s appointment, take their kids to school, and run some errands while still being able to deliver what is expected of them from work. For employees with kids, it is a priceless benefit to be able to spend more time taking care of their children while still contributing to the family’s income. When employees are happy with their personal life, they can bring that joy into their work as they are inspired to perform at their best.

It Helps Your Company Become Green

Sustainability and going green are all the rage these days as we try to mitigate the effects of climate change. By setting up a virtual workplace, you can contribute to the environment. You cut the need to print papers, you don’t have to use air conditioning, and you save on gas for your car, among other things. You build a culture of good environmental stewardship.

It Helps Build a Foundation of Trust

When you can’t physically see your employees and monitor their every move, you need to be able to trust them — and a virtual workplace is built in that foundation. When your employees feel trusted, they perform better. They become more responsible and accountable, knowing that you rely on them to do their job well. They know their contributions to the company are of huge value. You know you have the best members of your company when you can depend on your virtual employees.

In conclusion, there are many benefits of going virtual to improve your company culture. It can improve the quality of life of your employees, which helps them make more valuable contributions to the company than ever.