We have talked before about what you can use a VA for but have you thought about a more short-term fix and using a virtual assistant to cover sickness and holidays!
Whilst sickness rates are falling absences of any kind can be a real struggle for employers to manage particularly in small teams.
Sickness absence can be unexpected and unfortunately some cases can be long term, within a small team this can mean other members having to pick up extra duties but this isn’t always sustainable. Having a VA could be the answer! Even if the full remit of the role is not covered or if duties from someone else is picked up that releases their time to cover the person that is off sick, having a VA gives you the flexibility to cover the workload is the most effective way.
A VA can be available immediately and can you save you the cost and investment of a temporary hire. A VA comes with their own equipment and doesn’t need a lengthy induction.
It is also unlikely that you will know how long someone is going to be off for when considering sickness absence, the beauty of SliceVA is that there are no fixed term contracts, you pick up and put down when you need, so when you get the call to say your employee is coming back to work we can hand back over you and be on our way.
Or, as is sometimes the case, if your employee is unable to return to work, a VA can bridge the gap until you find a replacement (we can even help with that too – check out SliceRecruit).
Holidays can also be a tricky time for cover either for small teams or at peak seasons. You may have a high request rate for school holidays, but operationally this can cause you some headaches. Having a VA there to be able to share the workload will mean that you can accommodate staff requests – which will mean the world to them (speaking from a parent’s point of view!)
There is obviously an additional cost element to using a Virtual Assistant to cover sickness and holidays as there will still be payments being made to staff; but if operationally it means you can carry on with minimal disruption, it can be a wise investment. You won’t be over-working the rest of the team, which is a moral boost in itself!
If you would like to chat about how SliceVA can work with you in time of staff sickness and holidays then please get in touch.