virtual assistant

Whom to hire, an executive assistant or a virtual assistant? If that’s the question you want answers to, you have come to the right place.

If you are running a business you know how complex its processes can get, and having the right assistance makes all the difference when it comes to surviving and thriving in a market this dynamic. Assistants play one of the crucial roles in this venture by managing various routine tasks so that you can focus on the things that matter most.

But what would be more beneficial for your business, hiring a traditional executive assistant, or going for a virtual assistant which has become very prominent recently? This blog will take a close look at how these differ from each other and the things to consider when choosing either of them.

What is a virtual assistant?

To understand what a virtual assistant (VA) is, you have to understand the experience they can offer. And to sum that up in one sentence, we have to say that having a virtual assistant is like having your own employee (executive assistant in this scenario) working remotely, but costing a lot less.

Post pandemic rapid digitization and the emergence of the global remote workforce has changed how businesses work and introduced many new avenues of growth. Virtual assistants are one of them. A 2022 estimate says that there are over 40 million VAs in the world. And we can see that the number is only going to rise.

For small business owners, startups, and entrepreneurs hiring a virtual assistant as their remote executive assistant can be an excellent way to take care of repetitive and time-consuming admin tasks like the following.

  • Email management 
  • Research and reports 
  • Meetings and minutes 
  • Manage events 
  • Recruitment 
  • HR management 
  • Project management 
  • Travel coordination 
  • Scheduling and calendar management 
  • Facilities management 
  • Materials coordinator 
  • CRM management 
  • Community management 
  • Supply chain management 
  • Document management 
  • Negotiation administration 
  • Workflow management 
  • Vendor management 
  • Team coordination 
  • Customer service oversight 

What is an executive assistant?

Usually, C-suite executives and company leaders hire executive assistants (EA) to perform a variety of administrative and clerical tasks to help them reach a higher productivity and streamline daily operations.

EAs are generally the first point of contact for people who want to connect with the executive. They are the strategic business partners of the company leaders and their roles evolve all the time assigning them different duties and tasks each day.

An executive assistant covers a wide range of responsibilities on a daily basis to make sure that the processes of the business functions properly. Here is a list of responsibilities that EAs generally have.

  • Being the point of contact 
  • Planning and scheduling meetings
  • Answering calls 
  • Making travel arrangements 
  • Recording the meeting 
  • Researching and organizing data 
  • Handling documents
  • Compiling expense reports
  • Performing bookkeeping tasks
  • Keeping confidential information
  • Managing and recording the supply needs
  • Screening visitors 
  • Using technical tools and software 

Key differences between virtual assistants and executive assistants

As both of them share a lot of similarities when it comes to task coverage, companies use them interchangeably for equivalent purposes. But to understand what option is more beneficial for you, we have to take a look at their differences:

  • Cost

    If you do some general research you may find out that (on a per hour basis) the salary of a virtual assistant is close/similar/higher than an executive assistant. But the average annual cost of having a virtual assistant can be 90% less than what you’d generally pay. How can that be?

    The virtual assistant outsourcing business model takes all the credit here. In this business model you only pay for the VA’s productive time (necessary for completing the number of tasks) and nothing else. And it is not only salary expenses that you save on, you don’t have to pay for office space, equipment, vacation days, or health insurance, and any other benefits either.

  • Location

    Usually, executive assistants spend their working hours alongside the officers they are working for. However, it is possible to hire a remote executive assistant. On the other hand, it is evident from the name itself that virtual assistants would work remotely whatever task you choose to delegate. And it is unlikely that an employer would ever meet a VA in person.

    As executive assistants can directly interact with their employer they can be more effective in handling matters where strategic planning is involved. However, with virtual assistants you get to choose from a much larger talent pool (imagine what a massive country like India has to offer) compared to your locality which continues to struggle with talent shortage.

  • Flexibility

    If we consider flexibility and scalability, a virtual assistant is going to be a better alternative. For example, when the demands and needs of your business change (month-on-month or year-on-year basis) hiring in-house executive assistant can seem like a big commitment

    If you hire VAs through fully-managed services like DedicatedVA, you can customize your plans based on the support needed. When demand increases or decreases, you can scale accordingly without paying anything extra.

    Consider another scenario where even a few days without the assistant can leave a big impact on your business and the in-house executive assistant needs an emergency leave. You have to deal with the losses. But not with vendors like us, we can replace our VA swiftly in such scenarios and maintain your operations smoothly.

  • Scope

    Executive assistants will spend their entire working hours with you and this will help them develop a deeper and wider understanding of your business. Therefore, they can take more and more complex tasks that require a greater degree of decision-making, problem-solving, and strategic planning.

    On other hand, although there is a lot in common between the tasks VAs and EAs perform, most EA’s responsibilities move around organization and communication. It makes it harder to find assistants that can handle a large array of responsibilities. But you will get experienced VAs who can handle any task with established processes and that does not need your specific expertise.

  • Communication

    As virtual assistants work from remote locations they have to depend on technology like email and video conferencing to stay updated and sync their work.

    Usually, executive assistants do not have to go through this hassle and can communicate naturally and freely. That’s why the communications can get more frequent.

    When the need arises, full-time team members are most likely to be on hand whether it is through Microsoft Teams or Slack when working remotely or in-person in the office.

Final thoughts

Now that you understand the advantages and disadvantages of both models you can decide whom to hire, a virtual assistant or an executive assistant.

To put it simply, if you prefer a more direct approach to communication, have a pretty intense and hectic schedule, and have more immediate tasks in your workloads you can render better growth opportunities out of employing an executive assistant as a full-time support.

However, if you are in need of a more flexible (and budget friendly) option virtual assistants are the way to go. If you don’t need full-time support it will be impossible to justify the investment that will go into bringing a new member on board.

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