So, you received an email from your Virtual Assistant letting you know that coming up, they will be unavailable for a period of time.
Do not freak out!
Although it may be stressful knowing your trusted VA is going off on vacation or maternity leave or has blocked their calendar for some other reason, take consolation in knowing that they have probably already included your projects and deadlines in their plans. Because of the central roll VA’s play for their companies, they are acutely aware of how important deadlines and tasks are and will be more than happy to accommodate you when it comes to vacations!
Usually in the same way they notified you that they plan to go off the grid, they probably also sent you instructions on how to ensure that you won’t be left chewing your fingernails in distress while they are gone.
This will depend solely on your VA, but the common procedure is to set a cutoff date that allows them a window of time to complete the priority projects of your choice before they leave. This method makes sure that you are taken care of before they head out of the proverbial office and that they can focus on themselves and their affairs during their time off. They’ll also send the date that they plan to come back refreshed and ready to start the work you submitted in their absence!
Some VA’s find working on tasks for their clients to be relaxing and might have no problem whipping open their laptop after a long day on the beach to do a little bit of work. However, this is something that you need to discuss with your VA directly, and it may include an additional fee on top of their hourly or package rate.
Of course, when a VA performs work for you while on leave, they expect to be compensated, but since many VA’s are independent contractors, they don’t receive employee benefits like sick pay, paid maternity leave or other forms of PTO from your company. Because of this, when they go on vacation, it is not on your dollar like it would be for an employee.
At the end of the day, the best way to handle your Virtual Assistant going on leave is to collaborate with them to ensure that you are on the same page and working towards the same goal; getting things in line before they leave. You may not even realize that they are gone because of the peace they leave you with before they go!
Are you the one going on vacation and need a VA to keep up with managing your files while you’re gone, or play catch up for you now that you’re back? Send an email to Angela@DavisVirtualSupport.com with what you need help with, and I will be more than happy to see what I can do!
Davis Virtual Support 