What is a Virtual Employee?

• A Virtual Employee is a full time, dedicated employee who works exclusively you, albeit remotely from our office in India
• VirtualEmployee.com’s unique business model helps you hire an employee from any professional background such as software programming, engineering, accounts, web designing, law, data entry, transcription, financial analysis, animation, SEO, graphics design, content writing, architecture and much else.

A Virtual Employee is not an offshore freelancer
Whilst a Virtual Employee and an offshore freelancer both work remotely, there are nevertheless many differences between the two:

• Freelancers work from home, unsupervised while a VE works from VirtualEmployee.com’s office in India where they are supervised at all times
• Freelancers work with multiple clients, simultaneously while a VE is a dedicated employee that works exclusively for one client
• Freelancing projects are typically short-term and low-budget while clients can work with the same VE everyday for as long as they wish
• Freelancers work according to their convenience, do not work dedicated office hours, or even the same shift as the client while Virtual Employees work a dedicated 8 hours per day and can even work the same office shift as their client

In summary, a Virtual Employee works just like a locally hired employee. The only one difference is that a VE does not work physically from the same office as the client.

How Does it Work?

As the name suggests, a Virtual Employee is simply an employee that works remotely. However, unlike with a freelancer, you work directly with your Virtual Employee, albeit via the internet. You can also collaborate with your Virtual Employee:

• You set the tasks of your VE
• Provide any instructions or guidelines as to how your VE should complete their work
• Decide the designation and role of your VE within your team and company
• Your Virtual Employee will follow your instructions
• You set project deadlines and ensure your VE meets them
• Providing any training that is required by your VE
• You monitor your VE’s progress and review their work
• Convey to your VE any relevant feedback

In summary, you project manage your Virtual Employee.

Lack of project management when clients freelance projects
A client does not (or rather, cannot) project manage an offshore freelancer. Offshore freelancers work predominantly independently, only taking the project specifications from a client at the beginning of the contract. With a VE, however, the client is in complete control throughout.

Offshore freelancers are external third parties
A freelancer is an external third party working only intermittently with an organization. By contrast, a VE is a remote addition and extension of the client’s company and local team.

Data and Intellectual Property security a fear for clients who freelance projects
Hiring a freelancer in India or, even for that matter, a freelancer in the Philippines, can be unsafe as there are no measures in place to protect against data security or intellectual property theft. With VirtualEmployee.com, however, a client is safeguarded against such possibilities.

How do you work with your Virtual Employee in India?

The manner in which a client works with their Virtual Employee is entirely up to them. Some popular modes of working remotely include utilizing the following:

• Phone
• Collaboration software
• Email
• Skype
• Video conferencing
• Instant messengers
• Remote PC software

The client is free to work with their Virtual Employee using whichever method is most convenient for them. The frequency and regularity of interaction between client and their VE is also at the discretion of the client.

Clients have little scope for collaboration when they freelance projects
Clients have limited interaction and less scope for collaboration when they hire a freelancer. This is because, unlike with a Virtual Employee, an offshore freelancer is not a dedicated resource and so a client does not work directly with their freelancer. In addition, since most freelanced projects are usually of a limited time duration, neither party really invests too much time or energy in collaboration.

Time zone differences can be a problem for clients who freelance projects
Due to time zone differences, clients who hire a freelancer in the Philippines or a freelancer in China may often find that their freelancer is unavailable for large portions of their working day. On the other hand, VirtualEmployee.com’s office is open 24 hours a day, and so a VE can work the same office hours as their client if required.

The psychological impact of working from home is absent in a VE, giving them an edge over a freelancer
The psychological impact of an individual working from a professionally administered office translates into positive effect on results and conduct. With freelancers, work ethics are often compromised because freelancers work from home, unsupervised.

Managing your Virtual Employee in India

A VE works from VirtualEmployee.com’s office in India where our HR executives manage the employee on the behalf of the client:

• Your VE is monitored at all times whilst they work
• If you or your VE run into any problems managers are at hand to assist immediately
• VirtualEmployee.com acts as the client’s physical representative in India
• We implement any of the client’s instructions and ensure the VE follows the client’s directions
• We maintain a professionally administered office for your employee to work from
• 24 hour client support department
• Management of all tax, insurance, labor law, employee benefits etc
• Management of all HR, payroll, accounts, attendance, leaves etc

Freelancers in India and other Third World countries have a reputation of unprofessionalism
If a freelancer in India or freelancer in China works unprofessionally or underperforms, there is little the client can do to hold the freelancer accountable. Rolling out the criticism may result in the miffed freelancer abandoning the project midway, leaving you stranded and deadlines looming large.
With VirtualEmployee.com, however, all VEs are held accountable at all times and throughout the entire process, to both the client and VirtualEmployee.com. This, in turn, leads to better work ethics, professionalism, efficiency and results.

Clients get more value for money with VE than when they freelance projects
The finances involved in freelancing services are based solely upon 'x' number of hours worked by a freelancer and little else. VirtualEmployee.com, however, provides clients not only with a dedicated VE but also effectively their very own dedicated offshore subsidiary office in India. Think of our office as an extension of your local office. The advantage of this is all the additional services and support the client can avail at any time to further make easy the outsourcing experience.

Hardware and Infrastructure provided to your Virtual Employee

To ensure that the client and their VE can work together closely and effectively our office is maintained to international standards and equipped with the following:

• Multiple fast and stable lease line internet connections
• Multiple backup generators
• Air conditioning
• Comfortable and spacious office desks and seating

Furthermore, your VE is provided with the following hardware:

• Telephone with local number from your country
• Powerful computer or laptop
• Windows XP and other commonly used office software
• TFT monitors
• Fax, printer, scanner etc
• Web cam, headset, servers etc
• With our emphasis on the latest and best hardware and infrastructure it is easy to collaborate with your VE in India

Freelancers in India and other Third World countries are hindered by resources
Whilst freelancers in India and other Third World countries are often very talented, outsourcing with a freelancer in India can be highly unproductive. This because freelancers in India may experience frequent power outages, unstable or slow internet connections and have limited and outdated hardware at their disposal.

Freelancing projects fail because ability alone is not enough for successfully outsourcing
When working remotely, even a small problem can become magnified several times over. For outsourcing to be a success there must be structured management and support in place; hiring a talented individual alone is not sufficient. VirtualEmployee.com not only focuses on the skills of the individual but our services also go much further and beyond this. This is why freelancing often fails even when a client hires a talented and experienced freelancer.

Clients should only freelance projects that are short-term and low-budget
Due to aforementioned reasons, freelancing long-term projects can be very unreliable. Clients should only, therefore, freelance short term, low budget projects. For long term requirements, clients should hire a VE, for it is a far more stable and professional method of outsourcing.

Getting Started with VirtualEmployee.com

To get started with VirtualEmployee.com and hire a dedicated employee, simply click on the Get Started tab and proceed as requested.

What happens next?
We use the job description provided by you to search for candidates we feel would be suitable to work for you. We submit their resumes to you and you shortlist the candidates you would like to interview and/ or test. Following this screening round, you can decide if you would like to hire any of the candidates. This service is free of charge.

Gold recruitment service:
For a fee of US$49.95 clients can upgrade to our Gold recruitment service. There are numerous advantages to this service, including a faster turnaround time for receipt of resumes; your requirement being placed on a higher priority; and the involvement of technical project consultants. To learn more about our Gold recruitment service, please Click Here.

For a better alternative to freelancing and to hire a VE click here