Having a virtual assistant to take on your business's most time-consuming and routine tasks can significantly boost productivity. A good virtual assistant will free up your time so that you have more time to concentrate on growing your business. Unfortunately, many assume that hiring a virtual assistant means no longer needing an in-house team or even an admin staff. However, this is not the case. Even if you hire the services of a virtual assistant, you'll almost certainly need some manual to ensure everyone is on the same page regarding company processes and procedures. Here are six reasons why you need training manuals for your virtual assistant:
You'll have a centralized record of all your company's processes.
Controlling the flow of information is essential when you're operating a business. To protect confidential information and trade secrets, you'll need to strictly control who has access to what information. One of the best ways to do this is to have standardized procedures, instructions, and work instructions that everyone follows in the organization. This ensures that everyone is working from the same page and no one is stepping on each other's toes. When you hire a VA, you should create standard operating procedures or training manuals for them to follow. This will ensure that everyone has access to the same information about your operating procedures without having to go to one central location.
The manual will be a check-off point for new employees and Virtual Assistants.
When a new hire joins your team, you need to give them some introductory training on your company processes. This will enable them to hit the ground running as soon as possible. It's easy to forget that only some have the same level of knowledge and experience that you do. Even if you have hired someone with years of experience in their field, giving them a quick overview of your company's operating procedures is still necessary. This is particularly necessary if they move over to your team from another team with different operating procedures. To make this process as smooth as possible, you should create a checklist of all the processes they will need to be familiar with. This will enable you to tick off each operation and ensure they are familiar with all the key procedures in the organization.
It allows new hires to ramp up more quickly.
In addition to having a check-off list of company processes, you should also provide your new employees with a study guide. This will enable them to ramp up more quickly and hit the ground running without waiting for their training manuals to arrive in the post. You should also provide your new employees with a copy of their team member manual. This will enable them to familiarise themselves with their tasks and responsibilities and your company processes. When hiring a VA, you should first ensure that they can provide you with a sample of the work they are capable of. You should also give them a list of tasks they must complete during their trial period.
It makes onboarding of new employees easier.
The more streamlined your hiring process is, the easier it will be to hire new employees. A manual outlining the company processes and procedures will enable you to skip the time-consuming onboarding process with new employees. Instead of going through the hassle of creating an onboarding program and finding someone to administer it, you can give the new hire a copy of the manual and have them complete the check-off list. You can then move to the next stage of the hiring process.