Virtual Assistant Outsource Administration

Patrick McFie recently sent out a group email to all members of the Linkedin group NZ online Start-UP community regarding 'guidelines' around posts about marketing or traffic building.

Doesn't matter what you do when you pull groups in on the internet you will always be subject to spam or be inundated with masses of promotional offers (which I think is spam).

Whats worse is that one feels obliged to email everyone about it and telling all to stop it! What a waste of time. 

Those that agree will listen, but lets face it they are the ones that don't do it. And those that have done it will move on to the next group because lets face it, its the 'internet' and they've already achieved what they wanted twice over because you've now just written about it.

So what can be done? Depending on where you are, you can moderate your members and even your messages. Takes time to moderate and if your group is well set up, its worth it.

So whatever you are doing on the internet, remember;
- Once its there, it is there!
- Giving everyone a telling off doesn't achieve much so don't bother.
- Setting a guide that all can view is a great idea.
- Moderation works!

Make sure you pay the updated account when paying AdminCorp! We've moved banks. As we only have one bank owned by NZ the decision was relatively straight forward and easy.

I made the decision some time ago to support New Zealand through the recession! How? Well I've always used overseas suppliers so doing my bit meant moving as much to NZ based businesses as possible.

The first hurdle was "I had no idea who if anyone could offer the services I was used to", so I set up www.vbiznz.co.nz a New Zealand Business social networking specifically for New Zealanders and so far this part of my plan has worked.

The second hurdle was getting what I was used to and I have to say we have moved approxiamtely 90% of our business back to New Zealand.

So when I walked into my Australian owned bank (who by the way have treated us well over the years) and requested my business bank accounts be closed I was greeted by a CSR who proceeded to give me the speech to get me to change my mind. She quickly realised it was not going to happen as soon as I advised her that I felt the NZ recession was being fuelled by non NZ banks profiteering out of our consumers and businesses. Interesting to note she didn't quibble about this at all.

So I feel I stood up for my country today and felt proud that I took action and verbalised it!

Debra Clark 

More and more media are identifying that the pressure is being put on employees when management and business owners have decided to reduce staff through redundancies or not replacing people when they leave.  Something I have noticed a lot of while visiting clients or at networking events, is the flow-on effect that this can have on the remaining staff.

Stress, extra workload, overtime, re-training and up-skilling of staff seem to be common ground and in the short term employees don’t seem to mind, but if this occurs for a long period people seem to feel unvalued and this approach can cause a gradual slowing of workload and limited tasks completed.

Whilst the media are quick at using the ‘recession’ as a reason for why this is happening, it would seem that this has been occurring for quite some time prior as people would resign from the role to seek the gratification and recognition of workload elsewhere, and although at present those people are still employed, they are reluctant to leave unless they have a secure position to go to as their salary is so important.

While delegating additional responsibility to others can be seen as a way to advance an employee into another position, the more additional tasks they undertake, the lower the quality of work will be achieved as they try and spread themselves too thin, this can and does have a dramatic effect on the business as a whole. 

Whilst employee retention and redundancies can’t be avoided, what are some solutions to try and balance the employee’s workload?

ü       Try identifying the right candidate for the right role, when an employee resigns and you are not replacing that position, think about who can do those important tasks competently, and then consider what tasks they can then shift to another person doing similar duties.  Only focus on the important tasks as these are the ones that will ensure the business continues to run smoothly while there is an absence in that role.

ü       Recognise employees for the extra work they are undertaking, there are plenty of non-monetary rewards available to ensure they feel valued.

ü       Give employees assurances that this is for the short term and keep your word, too many broken ‘promises’ just lead to disorder and confusion.

ü       Consider combining all the small tasks several employees are completing and combining it into a temporary, part time or casual position, this will ensure that these continue to remain up to date.  The skill set of the candidate may not necessary need to be at the same level as previous and handover or training will only require minimum attention. 

ü       Finally, consider contracting work out to businesses such as AdminCorp to complete those day to day tasks.  The difference between us and a temping agency is that you have to guarantee a minimum workload, with us it is minute by minute for only what needs to be done.  The other major advantage to using businesses like ours is that you only have to train us once, not try and get the same temp as last time etc. 

Call AdminCorp today on 0800 ADMINC to see how we can help your business today.  This is what we do best!

Tara McGowan