Lazy Virtual Assistants?

[ryanjm]

I haven't figured out if they're lazy or just smart, but have any of you noticed that your VA's who are hourly just don't seem to do much in the time frame they're supposed to be working?

Our first VA we had to time ourselves how long it took to do a particular task, because we found he was getting very little done in the 4 hours he was supposed to be working. Now that we know what is possible in 4 hours and brought it up to him, he has magically increased his productivity

Same issue now with another VA hired through a 3rd party. They say they can only do X posts in an 8 hour period, but I recorded a camtasia video doing the exact task they are doing and showed basically that you would have to be a quadriplegic typing with your nose to be as slow as they claim. And this is a service they do regularly for tons of customers, so this is apparently what most people accept.

So apparently some of these VA companies in 3rd world countries have a nice little racket going on where they say they're working for 8 hours, and it's more like 4, if that. I would almost feel a little guilty about bitching over their productivity since they are paid like $1/hr, but I'd rather pay $2/hr and be told the truth than them try to scam me.

 

[littleg2008]

I actually prefer the per hour VA's over the per month ones. I have great success with them. Currently i have 3 assistants who i pay average $400 per month each and they work their butts off for me.

I suppose its just up to you the employer to ensure you find the right VA to help you.

Give them the odd test project initially before you hire.

 

[Winchester]

I haven't figured out if they're lazy or just smart, but have any of you noticed that your VA's who are hourly just don't seem to do much in the time frame they're supposed to be working?

Our first VA we had to time ourselves how long it took to do a particular task, because we found he was getting very little done in the 4 hours he was supposed to be working. Now that we know what is possible in 4 hours and brought it up to him, he has magically increased his productivity

Same issue now with another VA hired through a 3rd party. They say they can only do X posts in an 8 hour period, but I recorded a camtasia video doing the exact task they are doing and showed basically that you would have to be a quadriplegic typing with your nose to be as slow as they claim. And this is a service they do regularly for tons of customers, so this is apparently what most people accept.

So apparently some of these VA companies in 3rd world countries have a nice little racket going on where they say they're working for 8 hours, and it's more like 4, if that. I would almost feel a little guilty about bitching over their productivity since they are paid like $1/hr, but I'd rather pay $2/hr and be told the truth than them try to scam me.

I've had a great deal of experience in this area and can tell you the reason they seem so slow is because they bid low prices but take multiple jobs in that same time to raise their hourly. Most of these VA's will be working for 5-6 people at a time. Your right though if I was charged a little extra and told "Hey I double book so this is the rough time frame it takes me to get the job done" then I'm fine with that

 

[ryanjm]

Ahh, it's making sense to me now They just figure you might drop their services at any time, so they double/triple book and just give you some sort of minimum level of productivity they know they can hit no matter what, and so basically if you hire them for 8 hours, they might work 3. Sneaky.

 

[blackcatgill]

care to share , where you hire your assistants from , im after a per hour one

regards

 

[usama18]

Its therefore better to pay them 2$/hour ......

 

[tigerjim14]

Where is the best place to find a decent VA? I have some hourly work that is basically returning emails from my CL ads

 

[IKbentim]

How much are you paying per hour?

/edit
I'd always feel bad for paying 2/3 an hour but if they got multiple jobs going its okay. Its just not okay for me.