Hiring Locally vs Virtual Assistants

I'm so passionate about this topic. Boy am I fired up.

Author

Casey McDaniel
November 07, 2024

Unless you’re new to this planet you have seen and heard the buzz around hiring a VA or starting a company that sources offshore labor. “Its saves payroll costs” “It saves payroll taxes” “They work so hard and you can change their life for $4 an hour”

Ya, I’m not a fan of it. You see around these parts we create jobs locally and take pride in creating a better local community.

In today's globalized economy, businesses face countless decisions about how to manage operations and streamline costs. This decision can impact company culture, community relations, efficiency, and even the long-term success of a business.

We take pride in creating jobs for people in our local communities. In the last 30 months we have created 8 local jobs and we love it. Nothing against people living in other countries but I want to support the same community that supports our business.

Pros

Cultural and geographical understanding.

There’s nothing worse than calling into to a fortune 500 company for customer service and they ship your call off to a foreign country where the phone operator doesn’t understand your needs. Perhaps this person speaks english really well but she cannot understand your situation and it causes so much frustration.

By hiring locally, you don’t have as many cultural hurdles to jump. Staff can empathize with customers and better take care of them. Additionally, in a service business understanding geography is huge. Your CRM may show a 10 mile distance between town but the huge mountain in between them means it’s a 90 minute drive. Add in the fat that it’s snowing today and a VA might tell a customer the tech can be there in 15. They will be disappointed when he doesn’t arrive for 2 hours.

Stronger Company Culture

Work is more fun when you build relationships and interact with those around you. Working remotely is fun every now and again but coming into the office and chatting with technicians and office staff before and during the day makes work a lot less of a chore. When techs stop in to get products and its just a cold, dark office greeting them, it becomes a bit lonelier. It also increases the odds that they are loafing off or stealing product.

Having local office staff brightens the mood. Giving the office manager a small budget to keep the office fridge full of drinks and snacks has been a huge game changer.

Picture this- in scenario 1 you have local office staff. When sales reps, ownership, or techs stop in throughout the day they chat, build friendships and get to know each other on a personal level. When there is miscommunication and someone makes a mistake, they are likely to talk it out and aim to correct those mistake sin the future.

Scenario 2 - A VA is strictly business. They never build a relationship with anybody in the company. They make a mistake and owners come down on them. It’s a fractured relationship with no trust. A technician goes to the wrong address and the VA tried to correct it and they both get in a fight. Nobody gets a long and nobody is wiling to work hard to make another employees day easier. Culture is bad and nobody wants to put in any extra effort.

Dont’ be cheap. Hire locally. Your company will suffer otherwise.

Accountability and Oversight

When your team is local, it’s much easier to oversee day-to-day operations and hold employees accountable for their work. If an issue arises, it can be addressed in real time with face-to-face communication, which is often the most effective way to resolve challenges. Local workers are also more likely to be invested in the success of the business because they see the direct impact their work has on the community around them.

Offshoring can complicate this level of accountability. Distance, time zone differences, and communication lags can make it difficult to stay on top of progress and address issues as they occur. The immediacy and personal touch that comes with local employment is a significant advantage when managing a business.

Supporting the Local Economy

This on is simple.

We take over a million dollars a year from people in Colorado.

We have hired 8 full time positions in our state. I don’t like the idea of siphoning money out of a local economy just to pay some people in another country. Even if that means a make a few thousand extra each year.

We brand as a local company. We hire locally. We donate locally. The community takes care of us and we take care of them.

Reasons Hiring a VA

  • You are a one man show and just need some back office help but don’t plan on growing

  • You own a non local company

  • You need to be open during a different time frame. Hiring across the world would allow the phones to be answered 24/7. (I’d still hire locally but that’s just me)

  • There are a variety of other reasons but it’s just not necessary.

Personally, I hope Trump puts in the tariffs like he said while campaigning and I hope he takes it a step further. I hope he add fees to companies that outsource labor like call centers and VAs to make it a less attractive option. Let’s bolster the US economy and keep more money in our country.

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