Both personal assistants and virtual assistants have their own pros and cons but depending on your work requirements, what one is best for you and your business?
A Personal Assistant (PA) is someone who works closely with a specific person with their daily business and personal tasks. They are usually employed, receive a salary, employee benefits and most likely work in a physical office. A Virtual Assitant (VA) is someone who freelances their time to those with a need for an assistant and doesn’t usually work full-time for a particular company or client. VAs work remote are the latest trend, even more so since the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
Personal Assistants Vs. Virtual Assistants
A personal assistant helps you with your regular tasks such as answering calls, emails, text and checking Socials, scheduling meetings, dealing with internal and external stakeholders, notetaking, etc. The role of a PA may differ, but commonly, a personal assistant will be full-time.
A virtual assistant is someone who provides different services to entrepreneurs or businesses from a remote location. Depending on your requirements, you may consider hiring an expert VA for particular tasks and projects. You can hire a VA to deal with event management, managing calendars, emails, appointments and digital marketing and creative tasks. Usually, the role of virtual assistants is not full-time. Therefore, if cost is a factor, then hiring a virtual assistant is probably a better solution.
Whether you hire a PA or VA, both have their own pros and cons. Let’s dive into some of them now.
Personal Assistant: Pros & Cons
Pros
- With a PA, you can work face-to-face, which can build a better relationship.
- The PA will know your inner workings of every task, which means they are more likely to understand your needs before even asking.
- They will provide 100% of their time dedicated to your business or brand
- They most likely will work full-time in your physical premises, meaning they can be trained specifically to your needs.
Cons
- The cost of hiring a personal assistant is they are paid higher than a virtual assistant, and you will need to consider other committing factors such as benefits, holiday entitlement, maternity and paternity leave, sick pay, NI, tax and pension contributions.
- Finding the right PA who can understand and manage all your tasks can be quite difficult or at least a length process.
- Usually, a physical premise is required.
- A PA would know confidential information about your business, which could be used inappropriately – additional training and policies should be put in place to prevent this.
Virtual Assistant: Pros & Cons
Pros
- One of the best advantages of VA is cost-effectiveness – a lower hourly rate plus saving on all the standard employment arrangements, as mentioned above.
- The majority of contact you will have with your VA will be via video calls, emails or over the phone.
- The VA doesn’t have interaction with any of the other members of your other team.
- The working hours of VAs are not fixed.
- You won’t be required to provide a place of work or equipment.
Cons
- The virtual assistant will usually be working for more than one client simultaneously, so your work may not be prioritised.
- The VA may not be available when you need them, depending on their time zone, working pattern and other commitments
- Loyalty and trust may sometimes be less as compared to traditional PA
Final thoughts
Whether you should hire a personal assistant or a virtual assistant is mainly based on your business tasks and requirements.
If the business tasks are irregular and limited, you should hire a freelance virtual assistant. However, if consistency from one individual person full-time is needed, consider hiring a personal assistant.
Here at Beyond Co., we pride ourselves on having a diverse range of talented virtual assistants ready to assist. From general administration to specialised support, we’ve got you covered. Our virtual assistant services include business services, client services, marketing and recruitment and are best suited to solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, SMEs and startups. Find out how we can help take your business to the next level.