This appeared in the Management Solutions section of the July/August 2003 edition of Competitive Edge,page 30.  <www.compedgemag.com>

The Beauty of A Virtual Secretary

‘Remote’ Workers Provide Cost-Savings & Are Easier To Manage

by Janet Rice Keene

If beauty is as beauty does, then hiring a virtual staff is a beautiful idea.  Because it means savings.  As for the appearance of your assistant – you don’t have to look at them.

Having a virtual assistant is like using a remote control.  There is so much less exertion required.  A remote assistant is a person who assists you in the same capacities as in the traditional way, but one who requires much less management.  The hours of work, which are done from your assistant’s fully equipped home office, are flexible and tracked on a timesheet.

Using a virtual assistant requires some modifications to the role of the traditional secretary.  He or she cannot do your personal filing.  But in our modern world, electronic filing and the paperless office makes this less of an issue.  He or she will not be able to sit before you and answer your phone while you urgently mouth the words “I’m not in!”  But phone calls can be answered wherever necessary, and if your assistant knows what appointments you have to meet, these adjustments can be accommodated readily and cheaply. 

Considering the costs of a traditional assistant, it will make you think twice about hiring.  Offering perks – vacation time, sick leave, health insurance, office equipment and space, kitchen facilities, etc. – can really add to your cost.  You can’t afford to be a cheapskate with what you offer because you want to attract the best talent.  A good benefit package can amount to a 30% addition to the salary you offer.  Add to that the paperwork and federal tax regulations that go into having a full-time staff person.  It’s not pretty. 

One more point about a full-time staff person.  A salaried position is usually based on 40 hours of work per week.  You may not need 40 hours of assistance every week.  When you hire a virtual assistant, you pay for the hours used and no more.  If you have various needs, you could have more than one assistant each working only a few hours per week. What would those hourly rates be?  Rates vary, but for a professional, dependable secretary, it could be $18 per hour.  That’s a whole lot cheaper than hiring someone full-time. 

So the cost savings and reduced headaches of using a virtual assistant are attractive.  But what can this virtual assistant do for you and how do you know if he or she can do the professional and ethical job you desire? 

A virtual assistant is best used for routine secretarial tasks, such as invoicing, maintaining contract and account files, preparing mailings and performing customer service.  A virtual bookkeeper can reconcile your bank statements, pay your bills and keep your books in shape for tax season – all from their home office.  You can use a virtual webmaster (obviously), a virtual media relations specialist, a virtual researcher, or someone to help you create a marketing plan.  You don’t have to offer benefits to any of these people and you don’t even ever have to see what they look like. 

Certainly, there might be the occasion when you are not satisfied with the performance of your virtual assistant.  If this had been a traditional staff member, it might mean documenting performance deficits and then the gruesome task of firing.  If you use an agency that provides virtual assistance, it will replace the assistant, removing that burden from you.

You may wonder if you can get an assistant of the same caliber this way.  Yes.  There is a surprising abundance of candidates – both geographically close to you as well as all over the U.S., who are college-educated and have worked in the business world.  Through a careful selection process, agencies choose candidates who possess high ethical and professional standards, and have state-of-the-art computer facilities in their home offices. 

I call this group of people “America’s Hidden Labor Force.”  A reasonable hourly income is appropriate compensation for the flexibility and opportunity these people are given in a virtual support capacity.   And that can be a beautiful thing.  

Janet Rice Keene is the founder of , an agency providing virtual office support.  Her Atlanta Company, known as “America’s Hidden Labor Force,” has virtual staff people all over the U.S. and Canada. (Admin@Keeneteam.net)