Getting smart with the way you set up the pay structure for your virtual assistant can go a long way to driving performance and productivity and can get your remote workforce into the right habits straight off the bat.
To explain a bit more, it might be worth trying, when you first hire a virtual assistant to introduce a probationary period. A training period, during which time you will be investing your time and resources into training and developing their skill set so that they will be fully equipped in 3 months to handle all the tasks you need them to do. You can make it clear that, within that time, either party can walk away with no hard feelings, if you feel that they are not well suited to the role or they feel that the job is not really for them.
Perhaps they want $10 an hour for their virtual assistant services, for a role you feel is worth $8 or $9. What’s the result if you go back and forth with your virtual assistant debating the value of the position and trying to convince them to accept the lower rate? They may reluctantly accept your offer but do you think they will go the extra yard for you late one evening when you need that article completed and uploaded urgently?
You can turn this potentially difficult situation into a win-win by saying that you will meet their price if they successfully complete the training period; so you put them onto an $8 or $9 rate for the first three months with the guarantee that you will up the rate to $10 an hour (with back-pay) when they conclude the training and show that they can do the tasks to the required level.
This approach is the carrot on the end of the stick that can help instill a work ethic that drives the VA on to perform to their peak. Some staff will do this naturally, if you are lucky enough to find them; others like the incentive of the carrot. If you can instill this ethic in the first 3 months it will be easier to keep the momentum going when the carrot is taken away.
The carrot method described here is just one way to incentivise your virtual assistant. Here at Melbourne SEO Services, we find ways on how to get the most from our remote team while giving them a rate commensurate to their skills. Click here if you want to know how we do it.