Tips To Work With Your Assistant Remotely During the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

For most professionals, working from home was either a luxury or something that is completely new. With the acceleration of Covid-19, many offices have closed their headquarters and moved operations to the safety of their own homes.

Whether your business has started working from home by choice or because you’re required to due to Covid-19, you can still get the benefits of working with your assistant virtually. Here are some of our tips for business owners, CEOs, and those working with a virtual assistant to make remote work easier:

Be Transparent

Be transparent with your assistant about the company’s plan of action for handling the Covid-19. A lot of questions will come your way from clients and employees, but with enough information, your assistant can act as a gatekeeper so that you can focus on other tasks.

Overcommunicate

Overcommunication is key when you are working with your assistant remotely. A good rule of thumb is, if you wonder whether someone will want that information, go ahead and share it.

Project Support

Some of your assistant’s duties may not be required while working from home, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have work for them. Get the most out of your time and theirs by having your assistant assist you with projects, research, and other tasks you don’t have time for.

Provide and Ask for Feedback

As you navigate through regular changes, it is important to ask for and provide feedback. Regularly check-in with your assistant about projects and challenges they may be facing with working remotely. Don’t forget to share your feedback. With good communication you can both work through the changes and challenges your business is facing because of Covid-19.

Create a Digital Filing System

If you haven’t already, now is the time to create a system for sharing documents. We suggest using Dropbox or Google Docs to keep files from being scattered all over the place. To keep projects and tasks manageable, we recommend using a project management site like Trello.

Schedule Time To Not Be Disturbed

While working remotely, communicate the times throughout your day that you do not want to be disturbed. Have your assistant add it to your calendar so that they will know it is your time to focus and not to be interrupted.

Pick up the Phone When Necessary

Emails and texts are prone to misunderstandings and can take longer to work through an issue. If this starts to be a problem, pick up the phone and call for quick clarification.

Keep the Watercooler Chat

Working remotely doesn’t allow for much watercooler chat. Don’t keep this from interacting with your team. Schedule regular Zoom or other teleconference calls to check-in on your employees and share stories or wins. You can also use GroupMe for group texting.

Don’t Have an Assistant?

LifeSquire has introduced virtual assistant services to help you or your business navigate the changes that come with Covid-19. If you would like to learn more about our virtual assistant services, click here.