Why Canada’s largest VA platform only has onshore assistants
You don’t have to read very far into the Virtual Gurus website to see the following phrases:
- North American Virtual Assistant
- Canadian and American Virtual Assistants
- Onshore (North American) freelancers
Thanks to the internet, virtual assistants and remote work in general have become increasingly common. Companies outsource contract work either through other firms or freelancers providing remote back office support for businesses. Business owners have become more open to hiring past our immediate geographic areas, as long as the work gets done. In a space where many of our competitors are offshore assistants, we have decidedly chosen to keep our network onshore.
First, what do I mean by “onshore” vs. “offshore”? Onshore services refers to work from outside the company but within the same country or in our case, countries (Canada and the US). Our customers are based in North America, and so are all of our virtual assistants and freelancers who work with them. Offshore, in our case, refers to remote workers outside of Canada and the US.
Because the work is being done remotely anyway, it has also become more common to outsource work offshore. Many companies, including our competitors with gig platforms, have taken advantage of the low costs of employing offshore workers especially in other regions of the world where they can be paid as low as $3/hour.
Rather than take this approach, we’ve kept all of our virtual assistance services onshore — here are my reasons why:
- Onboarding and communication is much easier.
When you bring a virtual assistant into your company, you are essentially bringing in a remote member of your team. In order for them to be able to fully support you and your company, you need to be able to easily communicate with them. Working with an onshore assistant or freelancer means they will be in your time zone, or at least a time zone close to yours. You will not have to wait long hours for a response because the person you are working with lives on the other side of the world. This is especially critical when you are working on time-sensitive projects that require ongoing feedback. I know that other offshore workers shift their work day so that they match that of their clients. However, I know that it can be hard to get someone at their desk with their full brain power and attention when they are tired and working late at night. Being in or close to the same time zone is better for collective productivity and sense of urgency. Working with onshore assistants also likely means having less of a language barrier. This is not to say that offshore workers don’t have good language proficiency, but there are certain business functions where contracts need a native speaker.
When your remote team is onshore, you can breathe easier as a manager as well. Managing a virtual worker can already be tricky enough. You have to have a good grip on what they are working on, and this is much harder when they are not in the same country as you. While the cost savings may make offshore assistants seem like the better option, the time that you spend trying to micromanage can add up. At Virtual Gurus, while we do have client success managers that also provide QA controls between our virtual assistants and our clients, management in general is much easier onshore.
2. Onshore assistants know how you work, and understand your markets.
Another important aspect of working with someone remotely that we don’t always consider is work culture. Freelancers in North America, especially those with specialized skillsets such as web development, can provide recommendations and creative feedback that may help you better achieve your goal. In other cultures, this is not encouraged, so they may simply complete work as instructed and then wait for feedback from the client. The end result may not work or turn out how you intended, as they may not have offered their input or expertise beforehand.
A remote team member also represents your company. Whether they operate in a sales capacity or not, they likely need to have some level of understanding of your markets. Being based in the same region as you and having experience within your markets is a foundation that is hard to replicate with offshore workers.
3. Working with onshore assistants and freelancers means you get to keep your personal and professional information onshore.
Working with virtual assistants and remote freelancers require the same level of trust as any employer would have with an employee. Whether you are sharing credit card information, account logins, intellectual property, or your product MVP, you have to trust that they will act ethically and use the information only for work purposes. If you are entering into a contract with a developer for example, you need to trust that they will deliver on the work promised because they signed a contract. Arguably, these are all huge risks regardless of whether a contractor is based on or offshore. However, by keeping the work and contracts onshore, your legal protection is much greater. I know of too many people who have worked with offshore freelancers who have either had their information compromised, or had work withheld. Unless you are working with a firm whose contracts cover the jurisdiction of wherever a remote worker is from, which is unlikely, your contracts will not protect you in other countries and the chances of successful legal action are slim.
Remote workers are generally trustworthy, but it helps to know that you are protected if things go south. At Virtual Gurus we even conduct background checks as part of our hiring process to help provide that peace of mind to our customers so they know that they can trust our virtual assistants.
4. We provide employment opportunities and living wages to Canadians and Americans.
Even if I were not the CEO of Virtual Gurus and led another business instead, in need of an assistant or a freelancer, I will always want to provide work to my fellow Canadians first, especially now. Although we do have highly specialized assistants in our marketplace, many of them work within administrative roles. Unfortunately, admin staff tend to be the first to get laid off. I know this, because I was one of them.
In this current economic crisis, people are being forgotten. It is especially critical for economic growth moving forward not only to provide employment, but a living wage so that people can provide for themselves and their families. For example, a career in administration allows for growth. Basic admin can be easily trained, and after that you need to skill up. Your pay should reflect your increased skill level.
The social impact of Virtual Gurus is what I am most passionate about. We hire virtual assistants across North America and have been able to provide employment to marginalized communities as well as those who may have a harder time finding work. This includes stay-at-home parents or single parents, Indigenous peoples who live in remote communities, people living with alternate abilities and the LGBTQ community. They all deserve opportunities and a fair wage.
The percentage of our Virtual Gurus who identify as female, POC, and/or LGBTQ
I know that many of our competitors work with offshore workers and likely realize larger margins because they pay lower wages. This is not to say that people in other parts of the world shouldn’t also be given opportunities to work. However, people right here are getting left behind. If you’re a business owner and you’re creating jobs, create them here.
This is my favourite thing about what I do. I personally cannot go to sleep at night knowing that I’ve outsourced opportunities that I could have provided to local talent. Empathy and compassion are central to our company.
If you need back office support and want to hire onshore, Canadian and American workers, we’re here to help. Send me an email at bobbie@thevirtualgurus.com
