If you’re an administrative assistant, then you’ve likely discovered that many companies have outsourced the work to, what is politely called, virtual assistants.
The name became very popular in the late 2010s due to a number of reasons. First, there were a lot of online articles, seminars, and even books devoted to extolling the benefits of outsourcing work to online employees.
There were a number of reasons, but the main one was always money. Online workers—most of whom work in countries where they are paid way below the minimum wage in any US state—will work for a fraction of what domestic workers will.
What happened to the auto and manufacturing industry during the 1980s, happened to office work in the 2000s.
Virtual Assistants Are Cheaper: 1099 and Overseas Pay Rates
It all boils down to money. Foreign Virtual Assistants, and even domestic VA’s are all 1099 without benefits.
This is not to say that all companies employee outsourced virtual assistants. Or that all virtual assistants are low skilled or even foreign based. However, the abundance of them are—and if you were to look at any of the postings on sites like Fiver, ODesk, or the many, many Facebook groups dedicated to virtual assistants, you’ll see hourly quotes ranging from $2 an hour to less than $8.
Here’s an interesting discussion on Fiver as to why pricing has become so cheap in many fields.
That’s obviously a draw for any shred business that ‘s looking to save money.
It’s a much more cost effective business plan than hiring an administrative assistant, paying them a salary, benefits, and healthcare. If you notice, we didn’t even mention a Pension or 401k as that’s been almost entirely removed from most corporate josb.
If you’re looking for strong benefits, namely a pension—you will have to turn to a Government job—or a job that’s funded by government money (such as a Hospital).
Companies Don’t Have To Worry About Benefits
This ties into the cost saving incentive. In addition to not having to pay virtual assistants as much money –because they are working in countries where the cost of living is much lower than the USA—most companies who employ virtual assistants do so in order to not pay benefits.
When you consider the benefits that people in the US want—health insurance, PTO, and in some cases 401k’s—it makes financial sense from a company perspective to hire overseas help.
(Of course, there are many drawbacks to hiring outsourced labor—not the least is that it can raise red flags about your organization)
In certain instances, large companies outsource all of their customer support overseas. It’s been written about ad naseaum—but it does bear mentioning that when people complain about not getting good service from either AI chat bots, automated “non human” prompts, or call centers overseas, it doesn’t bother the company—they are saving tremendous amounts of money and as long as they have customer retention, that’s all that matters.
If a company is only thinking about the bottom line in regards to compensation, then saving on health insurance, 401k, PTO, and salary considerations makes it a no-brainer.
The reasons that most companies, large and small, do not go with the cheapest route—outsourced virtual assistant work—is because the work quality is subpar compared to a full time local worker who is being paid a fair wage. It also signals that the company is cutting corners if they outsource—which should be a red flag (more on this below).
The trend has extended far beyond call centers–here’s an article about a New York City restaurant that hires cashiers to operate via Zoom online from East Asia.
They’ve Fallen For The Hype
Another reason companies hire outsourced virtual assistants is that they fall for the lame gurus that have become ubiquitous on YouTube and every other platform–Facebook and LinkedIn included.
These fake gurus are claiming that they make millions by outsourcing their work to “VAs”. The unspoken words are that they’re basically using sweatshop labor (I’ve linked to some news reports about the horrendous conditions and low pay that outsourcing firms overseas use).
Most of these gurus are simply trying to hustle and make a fast dime with consulting, paid trainings, or even affiliate programs.
The gurus are simply piggybacking off of old TedTalks, material they skimmed from Tim Ferris, or even less reputable self help gurus online.
Should A Company That Uses Virtual Assistants Raise Red Flags?
That depends on the type of business they conduct, how they approach you, and how they represent themselves.
Business that spend an inordinate amount of time marketing themselves, advertising their business, and trying to signal their success—well, most of the time these businesses are putting on a false front.
A small operator who does not have the funds, capital access, or real staff to work with will oftentimes hire a outsourced virtual assistant to make their company look bigger than it really is—also, they will parse out the work to an overseas worker who is often employed by a dozen other companies.
Would you really want to trust working with a company that has decided it’s wise to not handle their own tasks or is unable to hire a full time worker?
The issue has become so pervasive–the cost cutting behavior of outsourcing–that there are even discussions about having official bills introduced into government that would.
You can vet this by checking their LinkedIn profiles. Surprisingly, many companies don’t have full LinkedIn profiles, but you will see the names of who works there. If it’s a NYC or LA based firm, yet most of the administrative support is located in Costa Rica, the Philippines, or India—then proceed with caution.
Oftentimes these businesses do not even have a real office, and are simply trying to operate at a scale that’s above their professional means.
If you’re interviewing for a job with a company, or if you are doing business with them, and you notice that they are hiring outsourced virtual assistants, then pause and consider a few tings.
- Why are they choosing to not hire a person located in their own city? Is it because they are looking to cut costs? Is it because their business is not yet profitable and they do not have the funds? Or is it because they are unable or unwilling to pay benefits, payroll tax, and handle all of the other essentials that come with legal w2 workers?
If you’re using a business—such as a Dental Office or a Real Estate office—and you see that they are dealing with a outsourced virtual assistant, then you should consider how comfortable that makes you.
And if you’re applying to work with or do business with a company and you see that the employer chooses to staff his business with outsourced workers, then consider why that is, and why you would want to work there.
There are moral and ethical concerns about hiring people in countries without labor laws and oversights–always remember this. More than a few articles have covered the sweatshop like nature of these outsourced workplaces.
Hey I’m Chris . 20+ years in the industry. I’ve worked every role from Executive recrutier to Agency founder and consultant. If you want to learn more or reach me,vist the about page or use my contact form.