Hiring a virtual assistant (VA) is an easy and economical step toward growing your business with a remote workforce. With their flexible and comparatively lower costs, VAs allow small businesses to stay competitive in a changing labor market.
Magic offers a quick and cost-effective way to scale. Here’s a quick look at the latest remote work and virtual assistant statistics to help you find out how your business can benefit from adding a Magic Virtual Assistant to your team.
General Remote Workforce Statistics
In collaboration with Global Workplace Analytics (GWA), Owl Labs surveyed full-time employees in the United States. Here are the key statistics collected from their State of Remote Work report:
69% of the workforce in the US is working from home
Out of those working remotely since the pandemic started, 73% of them have returned to the office at least once a week. However, more than half (56%) would quit or look for another job that offered flexible work arrangements going forward.
The healthcare (15%), technological (10%), and financial (9%) industries have the highest number of remote workers respectively
While remote work is mostly associated with tech and internet services, it is found that the healthcare sector has the biggest remote workforce. The industries with the lowest number of remote workers include entertainment (1%), real estate (1%), telecommunications (1%), mass media (<1%), and utilities (<1%).
Small business owners are twice as likely to hire fully remote workers
Small business owners are taking advantage of the cost savings of a remote workforce. Hiring remote workers allows a small company to increase the budget in other aspects of its operations such as sales and marketing and, in turn, scale up as a business.
The business area that has the most remote workers (18%) is IT/Operations
Following IT/Operations, the departments with the greatest remote representation are customer support (14%), sales (13%), administrative (11%), human resources (7%), and product/engineering (7%).
Advantages of Working From Home
While the main cause of companies shifting to remote work was to curb the spread of the COVID-19 virus, both employees and employers enjoy lasting advantages from it.
90% of the remote workforce report that they are productive in a work-from-home setup
Due to fewer distractions at home, 67% yield high productivity while 24% said that they are at the same productivity level as working in the office. This debunks the myth that employees are more productive at work in the office with direct supervision.
Companies that offer remote work arrangements have a 25% lower employee turnover
Companies that allow remote work observe an increase in employee satisfaction and loyalty. Thus, employees are less likely to look for a new job.
Companies with a remote workforce get about $11,000 in cost savings per remote worker annually
According to GWA, employers save a lot from hiring remote workers since there’s no need to allocate a budget for things like overhead costs, real estate, transit subsidies, and continuity of operations.
Remote workers enjoy mental health and work-life balance benefits
72% of Owl Labs survey respondents said that working from home decreases their stress levels. Moreover, 77% report that they have a better work-life balance due to remote work options.
Remote Workforce Projections
More and more companies are embracing hybrid or remote work options for their employees. Here are some predictions about remote work:
By 2025, 36.2 million Americans will join the remote workforce
From Upwork’s Future Workforce Pulse Report, 61.9% of the 1,500 hiring managers surveyed are planning to hire more remote workers. It is predicted that 22% of Americans will be working from home by the year 2025, an 85% increase from pre-pandemic levels.
By 2028, 73% of all departments are projected to have remote workers
Younger generation managers believe in a more independent workforce approach compared to Baby Boomers. Millennials and Gen Z workers will amount to 58% of the workforce by 2028 so it is predicted that almost three-quarters of companies will offer hybrid or remote work options.
Professionals want higher salaries for on-site work
44% of Owl Labs survey respondents are expecting a pay increase to make up for the additional costs of working at the office. Meanwhile, 38% said that they would be willing to take a pay cut to work from home.
Customize Your Virtual Team Based on Your Needs
Virtual Assistants: A Viable Solution to Remote Work
Hiring a virtual assistant is a great way to test out how your business can shift to a remote workforce. They are on-demand remote workers, to begin with, so they require less assistance in getting work done for you.
Here are insightful virtual assistant statistics to support the advantages of hiring them for your transition to remote work:
The number of virtual assistants is growing
The Global Virtual Assistant Market 2021-2025 report projects that the freelance virtual assistant market will grow by $4 billion between 2021 and 2025, progressing at a CAGR of almost 12% during the forecast period.
If you consider remote freelancers as virtual assistants, there are 30+ million of them (12 million on Upwork, 20 million on Freelancer, and 3 million on Fiverr). Those with the “virtual assistant” title are closer to 25,000.
60% of virtual assistants are college-educated
A majority of virtual assistants are skilled experts who no longer limit themselves to administrative work. 45% have a bachelor’s degree while 18% have an associate degree and 24% have other kinds of degrees. There are also 6% who have a master’s degree and only 7% with a high school diploma.
Employers can save up to 78% in hiring virtual assistants
Hiring an in-house employee can take about four months and $4,000 due to the hiring process, salary, and other additional operating costs. In contrast, virtual assistants don’t require office space, desks, technical equipment, etc. Moreover, they are paid on an hourly or project basis.
Build Your Own Remote Workforce with Magic
Virtual assistants are a low-cost alternative to scaling talent for your business. Magic offers a quick and efficient way to set up the remote workforce for your business. We’ll source, screen, and hire virtual assistants according to your needs so you don’t have to.
Within 72 hours, you can get a Magic Virtual Assistant equipped with the necessary skills and tools to get things done for your business. They are college-educated professionals who are meticulously selected through an in-depth questionnaire, phone interview, and screening call with the potential client.
A Magic Assistant can assume a roster of roles in your business such as:
- Virtual Assistant — a versatile remote worker who can take care of administrative and executive tasks such as:
- Calendar management
- Email management
- CRM clean-up
- International calls
- Basic bookkeeping
- Sales Assistant — a virtual assistant who provides support in building a better sales process through activities like:
- Cold calling
- Lead generation
- Data mining
- Lead qualifying
- Warm lead calling
- Inbound calling
- Accounting Services — a Magic Virtual Assistant can help manage the day-to-day accounting concerns of your business including:
- Data entry
- Financial reports
- Credit control
- Payroll and tax filing
- Accounts receivable and payable
- Customer Support — a remote worker who can help respond to customer service tickets and provide assistance to your sales team through:
- Phone support
- Email/Chat support
- Escalation management
- Quality management
- Positive scripting
The remote workforce continues to thrive, opening many opportunities for employees and employers alike. Adapt to the trends in the work landscape and improve your remote work strategies with Magic handling your talent acquisition.
Get started and book a call with us so we can help you better manage your workload and delegate tasks to the right Magic Assistant. Hire a Magic Assistant now!
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One Response
How do I know when I’m ready for a VA? Do you work with every budget? Is there an upfront cost?