How to Scale Your Business with Long-Term Remote Staffing
Simply keeping up with the tides brought about by the ocean of competition is not enough for many business owners. That’s why businesses are always looking for ways to scale up and grow their operations in the most effective and sustainable way possible.
But this is no easy feat. From internal limitations such as staffing budgets to external ones like tough competition in the labor market, the list of roadblocks to growth can seem endless. It’s a good thing the digital age has made it more possible for businesses of any size to tap into a global talent pool. Long-term staffing can be the solution businesses seek to grow and achieve their goals.
Benefits of hiring remote staff long-term
Before we dive into the specifics of scaling your business by hiring remote workers on a long-term basis, let’s first explore the benefits of this awesome alternative staffing solution.
Regain control of your time and energy
The road to success doesn’t have to be lonely. When you take on too many tasks, you’ll soon lose track of your time. Administrative and other routine tasks, though seemingly simple, can demand much of your time. It can keep your focus and energy away from your core or executive functions.
By hiring remote workers or virtual assistants (VAs), you can delegate tasks to better manage your workload. Doing so frees up your plate for high-level responsibilities. It can also help improve your operations as you’ll be delegating a task to a specialist. You’ll be able to regain control of your time and energy without worrying about the effective completion of tasks.
Access to global talent
With remote staffing, you can remove geographical limitations. Thanks to technology, your new staff member doesn’t have to be living in the same country or even time zone as you. This opens up your business to hire from a wider pool of talent.
Traditional staffing may mean you have to find someone who lives close enough to physically report to your place of work. In comparison, hiring remote workers allows you to focus more on finding an applicant that best matches your specific needs instead.
A cost-effective way to scale up business operations
Virtual staffing lets you hire top talent at a fraction of the cost. You can add more team members to scale up operations without breaking the bank. You save on
overhead costs such as office space and equipment. At the same time, additional allowances for transportation or fuel expenses can also be eliminated.
Offers flexibility and scalability
This staffing solution offers flexibility to both the employer and talents. One on hand, you can hire remote professionals to work only for the hours you need them to. And when you need to scale up your operations, you can either increase their hours or add more remote workers to meet your business demands.
For job seekers, the flexibility of working remotely is also an appealing factor. In a TEDxIESEBarcelona talk, Ricardo Fernandez, a cross-cultural communications expert, and Managing Director in Spain for Limehome, highlights that flexibility is a sought-after perk. He shares, “[Workers] want to work remotely. They want to have flexibility.” When you adopt remote work, you can attract more talent by offering a work arrangement that allows them to earn a living while having more control of their time.
Improve business performance
As long-term remote workers get used to your business processes, they can complete tasks more efficiently. They can also recommend ways to streamline processes and improve the way you do business.
Working with remote staff long-term also means you don’t have to spend time training or re-training new hires. When they’ve worked with you and your team for a considerable amount of time, they’ve already built a sense of camaraderie. A strong working relationship can help improve collaboration and the overall performance of your team.
Want to learn more about hiring virtual assistants? Book a free consultation call with our Growth Experts to get started.
7 remote staffing best practices you should adopt
There are plenty of pros to working with VAs long-term. But without the right efforts and preparation, it can be difficult to reap the benefits. To help you make the most out of long-term remote staffing, make sure to adopt these best practices:
1. Figure out what you need help with
It’s important to clearly understand your business goals and objectives, as well as the tasks and responsibilities that need to be fulfilled to achieve them. That’s why the first step in long-term remote staffing is identifying your specific needs.
Figuring out the tasks that you need help with will help determine important factors such as the number of staff you need to hire, their weekly hours, and the skills and qualities of the talents you need to look for.
Below are some top examples of VA tasks to give you an idea of what you can delegate to your remote staff:
Administrative
- Data entry
- Transcription
- Internet research
- Executive assistant
- Calendar management
- Travel management
- Form digitization
Business support
- Lead generation
- Lead management
- Appointment setting
- Customer support
- Chat support
- Data analysis
- Receptionist duties
- Market research
- Report generation
- Project management
- Bookkeeping
- Cold calling
- Call routing
Marketing
- Digital marketing
- Social media management
- Email marketing
- Content writing
- Blog management
- Scriptwriting
- Copywriting
- Video editing
- Graphic design
- Audio editing
- Public relations
- Proofreading and editing
Specialized or technical functions
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Pay-per-click (PPC) marketing
- Google and Facebook ads management
- Website creation
- Web analytics
- Webinar setup
- Business tools and systems setup
- IT management
Read our article on the best practices for hiring virtual assistants or VAs. Or schedule a free consultation call with us for expert help on building your remote team!
2. Be remote work-ready
When you decide to work with remote staff for a long period, it’s important to ensure your business is remote work-ready. From the shift in mindset to using the right tech solutions, there are different preparations you need to complete to make working with a distributed team feasible. Below are some examples:
- Setting up secure and accessible cloud storage
- Installation of synchronous and asynchronous communication tools
- Creation of accounts for collaboration apps and other tech solutions
- Training employees (onsite and online) on how to effectively use tools
- Data privacy and cybersecurity training
- Proper onboarding of remote workers
- And other relevant preparations
3. Document processes
Another excellent practice for any type of organization is the documentation of business processes. SOPs can help future-proof your business. When a team member cannot be online, someone can temporarily take over their urgent tasks by using the SOP as a reference.
Documented processes can also be useful for role expansions and career development. Remote workers will always have a reference on who is given new roles, which can be referred to in the documentation. This documentation will come especially handy when an employee’s trainer or immediate manager is offline to answer their queries about a process.
Looking for tips on how to future-proof your business? Visit the 20four7VA blog or schedule a free consultation call with our Growth Experts for more information.
4. Enable and encourage open communication
Working remotely, especially for an extended period, can make one feel isolated. It’s easy to experience loneliness when you’re working in your own corner of the world and physically apart from your colleagues.
“As a leader of a fully remote and distributed company, I know first-hand that there’s no quick remedy for this unique challenge,” shares 20four7VA’s President and CEO. “But one thing that can help you tackle this more effectively is allowing and encouraging open communication.”
Employers must provide the right tools so employees can communicate effectively. They should also encourage opportunities for both formal and informal interactions.
Formal interactions like town halls, weekly team syncs, and one-on-ones help ensure that team members are aligned. They are in tune with what’s happening in their team and the organization as a whole. These formal interactions are crucial in ensuring smooth business operations. This helps avoid scope creep, delays, and other issues arising from lack of or unclear communication.
Informal communication is just as important as traditional meetings. Trying to recreate the shared experiences of team lunch breaks and water cooler talk can be difficult. But not trying at all would be a mistake. Encouraging informal conversations like virtual coffee breaks and quiz nights doesn’t have the structured agenda that meetings do.
These interactions help teams develop a sense of camaraderie. When distributed teams are given opportunities to get to know each other and forge strong working relationships, they will feel more connected to their work and teammates. It makes remote workers feel that even with the physical distance, they’re not entirely alone. They have peers across the world who share the same thoughts, interests, and experiences.
Read our article on how to build and manage remote teams. You can also book a free consultation call with our Growth Experts to get started.
5. Clearly align on expectations
This next best practice is closely related to maintaining open communication channels. When working with distributed teams, clearly aligning expectations is a good way to ensure long-term success and strong working relationships.
There’s almost no such thing as overcommunication. Expectation setting is an important part of effective delegation. KPIs and work expectations should start at the very beginning, including onboarding. This helps set the tone for the rest of their tenure with your company. Aside from aligning on KPIs, monitoring and performance management are also necessary. This helps ensure that everyone acknowledges their role and how their performance is measured.
6. Provide training and development opportunities
Providing training and support for your remote employees is crucial for short-term and long-term success. This can include onboarding processes, training on specific tools and software, and ongoing support for any questions or issues that may arise. 20four7VA HR Director Cath Castro stresses the importance of investing in workers’ growth and development. She shares, “By investing in your remote tea
m, you can ensure that they have the necessary skills and resources to succeed.” Training and development will not just help them do their current jobs well but can also prepare them for their future roles.
By following these tips, you can effectively scale your business with long-term remote staffing. Remember to continuously evaluate and adjust your approach as your business grows and evolves. With the right strategies and resources, remote staffing can be a valuable tool for scaling your business and achieving your goals.
7. Work with a top-tier remote staffing company
Building and managing an excellent remote team that you will work with long-term is easier said and done. You need to invest resources as well as time and energy to make this happen. But you don’t have to do this alone. You can work with a leading virtual assistant company like 20four7VA to make remote staffing as cost-effective and successful as possible.
20four7VA has over a decade of experience helping businesses like yours find the most suitable talents across the world. We have a global talent pool of pre-vetted remote professionals to support you on your road to business success. Our award-winning end-to-end solutions offer more than just VA-client matching. We’ll aid you in everything from free in-house training to payroll processing. This means you can work with remote talents who can take over tasks you need help with. At the same time, the whole 20four7VA support staff will make hiring, training, and managing VAs much easier so you can focus on your core functions!
Learn more about our remote staffing solutions by booking a free, no-strings-attached consultation call today!
Conclusion
Working with remote staff is truly helpful. But working with a remote team long-term can be game changing for your business. You can streamline processes, improve productivity, while saving time, energy, and financial resources.
Of course, just like any strategy, building and managing a remote team takes work. Hopefully, the above best practices can help you maximize the benefits of virtual staffing. It’s also an excellent choice to work with a leading remote staffing company—one with a global talent pool of skilled individuals and experience in helping companies scale their operations and grow.
Ready to work with remote assistants long-term? Book a free consultation call with our Growth Experts now!
