Streamlining Human Resources with an HR Virtual Assistant

By Anna Taylor | Updated: 22 Oct, 2024

Imagine your HR team freed from the shackles of endless paperwork, able to focus on what truly matters: nurturing talent, shaping company culture, and driving strategic people-focused initiatives. It's not a far-fetched dream – it's the reality that HR virtual assistants (VAs) are creating for forward-thinking organizations. 

In a world where the war for talent is fiercer than ever and employee expectations are skyrocketing, can your HR team afford to be bogged down by routine tasks? Let's explore how HR virtual assistants are rewriting the rules of human resources, helping you tackle the administrative Hydra so your team can focus on what really matters. 

Table of contents

  1. What the data says
  2. What HR Virtual Assistants can do 
  3. Benefits of working with a Virtual Human Resources Assistant
  4. How to know if an HR Virtual Assistant is right for your team
  5. Your HR Assistant Options
  6. Hiring Prialto for your HR Virtual Assistant needs

What the data says 

Picture this: Your HR team is working tirelessly to fill a crucial position. Days turn into weeks, and before you know it, nearly a month and a half has passed. According to the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM), this 44-day average time-to-hire is all too common. And it's not just time that's being consumed – each new hire also costs companies an average of $4,700. 

But the challenges don't stop at recruitment. A McKinsey study found that typical HR departments spend a staggering 60% of their time and resources on operational tasks. More than half of their work hours are consumed by administrative work, instead of strategic HR initiatives that could drive the business forward. 

And the workload is taking a toll on HR professionals. In a recent survey by Sage, an overwhelming 95% of HR leaders reported that HR is simply too much work. The numbers paint a picture of a profession under siege: 84% of HR leaders regularly feel stressed, and 81% are experiencing burnout. These aren't just statistics – they represent real people struggling to keep up with ever-increasing demands. 

The data tells a clear story: HR teams are caught in a perfect storm of time-consuming processes, financial pressures, and overwhelming workloads. Something has to change.  

HR virtual assistants offer a lifeline, promising to alleviate the burden of operational tasks and free HR professionals to focus on what they do best – strategizing, building relationships, and driving organizational success. 

What HR Virtual Assistants can do 

Before we dive into the specifics, let's clear up a common misconception. HR virtual assistants aren't robotic replacements for your HR team. Nor do they create materials, formulate strategies, conduct interviews, or make hiring decisions. Instead, think of them as highly efficient, always-on administrative partners that assist your existing HR team in the background. 

Essentially, that 60% of HR time that’s being taken up by admin tasks? Your HR VA is on it. 

HR virtual assistants handle repetitive, time-consuming admin tasks, freeing up your HR team to focus on building relationships, developing talent, and driving your organization forward.  

Recruitment 

In the talent acquisition race, speed and efficiency can make all the difference. HR virtual assistants are your secret weapon in streamlining the recruitment process: 

  • Job Listing Management: They can post and update job listings across multiple recruiting platforms, helping your opportunities reach the widest possible audience. 
  • Data Management: Virtual assistants can categorize and tag applicants in your ATS, making it easier for recruiters to find the right candidates quickly. They keep your candidate database up-to-date so that no promising lead falls through the cracks. 
  • Initial Communications: From sending out application acknowledgments to scheduling initial screenings, HR virtual assistants handle routine candidate communications with prompt professionalism. 
  • Interview Scheduling: HR VA’s coordinate between complex calendars, juggling the availability of candidates, hiring managers, and interview panel members. 

By handling these time-consuming tasks, HR virtual assistants allow your recruiters to focus on assessing culture fit, evaluating skills, and building relationships with top candidates. 

Onboarding and offboarding 

First impressions matter, and so do last ones. HR virtual assistants keep both your onboarding and offboarding processes running smoothly: 

  • New Hire Orientation: They can schedule orientation sessions, send out welcome packets, and make sure new hires complete all necessary paperwork before day one. 
  • Meeting Coordination: From team introductions to training sessions, virtual assistants can arrange all the necessary meetings for new hires. On the flip side, they can handle exit interviews for employees that leave the company. 
  • Equipment and Access Management: They can coordinate with IT to assign equipment and grant access to new employees, and collect company property and revoke access from exiting employees.  
  • Benefits Enrollment: Virtual assistants can send reminders and guide new hires through the sometimes confusing benefits enrollment process. 

By managing these details, HR virtual assistants help create positive experiences for both incoming and outgoing employees, reinforcing your employer brand. 

Document management 

In the age of compliance and data privacy, efficient document management is crucial. HR virtual assistants excel at keeping your records organized and up-to-date: 

  • Digital Filing: They can organize and maintain employee records in your HRIS, ensuring everything is where it should be. 
  • Data Entry and Updates: From new hire information to employee status changes, virtual assistants can keep your HR software current. 
  • Compliance Tracking: They can help make sure that company documents meet retention requirements and flag records for review or deletion as needed. 
  • Digitization Support: For organizations transitioning to paperless systems, virtual assistants can assist with scanning and categorizing historical records. 

With virtual assistants managing the minutiae of document administration, your HR team can focus on using that data to drive strategic decisions. 

Payroll assistance 

While HR virtual assistants don't handle sensitive financial information directly, they can still play a crucial role in supporting payroll processes: 

  • Time and Attendance: They can collect and organize timesheet data, flagging discrepancies for review. 
  • Data Verification: Virtual assistants can double-check employee information to guarantee payroll accuracy. 
  • Managing Inquiries: They can handle routine payroll questions from employees, escalating complex issues to the appropriate HR team members. 
  • Report Generation: From basic payroll reports to customized analyses, virtual assistants can prepare the data your team needs for decision-making. 

By taking on these supporting roles, HR virtual assistants help your payroll runs go smoothly and accurately, reducing errors and saving time. 

Performance management 

Effective performance management is key to employee growth and retention. Here's how HR virtual assistants can support your efforts: 

  • Training Coordination: They can schedule training sessions, send out upskilling materials, and track training completion rates. 
  • Review Scheduling: Virtual assistants can manage the complex logistics of performance review seasons, helping with scheduling meetings and distributing materials.  
  • Feedback Collection: They can send out and collect employee feedback forms, compiling the data for manager review. 
  • Goal Tracking: Virtual assistants can help maintain employee goal databases, sending reminders for updates and compiling progress reports. 
  • Recognition Programs: They can assist in managing employee recognition initiatives, from collecting nominations to distributing rewards. 

With these administrative tasks handled, your HR team can focus on the human side of performance management – having meaningful conversations and developing tailored growth plans.  

Benefits of working with a Virtual Human Resources Assistant 

Incorporating an HR virtual assistant into your team offers a wealth of advantages: 

  • Reclaim Productivity: Based on the McKinsey data we saw earlier, HR virtual assistants can free up to 60% of your team's time spent on operational tasks. By offloading these routine tasks, your HR professionals can reallocate those work hours to more strategic initiatives that drive business value. 
  • Slash Time-to-Hire: By managing job postings, screening applications, and coordinating interviews, virtual assistants can significantly accelerate your recruitment process. This could potentially reduce your average time-to-hire from that number of 44 days to something more like 31 days, saving time and money spent on recruitment. 
  • Achieve Accuracy in Data Entry: Virtual assistants focus on accuracy in data entry tasks, reducing errors in crucial areas like payroll and compliance. 
  • Boost Compliance: With automated document management and consistent process adherence, virtual assistants can significantly reduce compliance risks and improve your company’s audit readiness. 
  • Reduce HR Burnout: Remember the 81% of HR leaders experiencing burnout? Virtual assistants can alleviate HR executive burnout by reducing the administrative burden. 
  • Scalability Without Overhead: Unlike hiring additional staff, virtual assistants can easily scale to handle 2x, 5x, or even 10x the workload without proportional cost increases. 
  • Improved Employee Experience: With administrative tasks handled efficiently, your HR team can devote more time to employee engagement and development. 
  • Cost-Effectiveness: Virtual assistants cost less than hiring full-time employees, while taking care of the tasks that take up the most time. 

By leveraging these benefits, your HR team can transform from a cost center into a strategic powerhouse, driving real business value and fostering a more engaged, productive workforce. 

How to know if an HR Virtual Assistant is right for your team 

HR virtual assistants can be a great investment for companies in all sorts of situations. But how do you know if you need a virtual assistant? Consider hiring a HR virtual assistant if your organization fits any of these scenarios: 

Rapid growth 

If your company is scaling quickly, a virtual assistant can help manage the increased administrative load without the need to hire multiple new HR staff. Your HR VA can manage job postings, ATS organization, interview scheduling, and more, letting your HR professionals focus on the candidate evaluation and selection process. And as new hires flood in, your virtual assistant can manage the logistical aspects of onboarding, scheduling orientation meetings and ensuring paperwork gets completed.  These virtual assistants can also handle the increased data entry and HRIS admin work that accompanies workforce growth. 

Small but mighty HR teams 

For lean HR departments struggling to keep up with administrative demands, a virtual assistant can be the force multiplier you need to improve productivity. Your HR virtual assistant can take over time-consuming routine tasks like data entry, document management, and candidate communications. 

As the company continues to grow, the virtual assistant can easily take on more tasks without the need for additional hiring or training, a scalability that’s crucial for small teams with limited resources. 

Shifting focus 

If your HR team is looking to move from a primarily administrative function to a more strategic role, virtual assistants can clear the path by taking on routine tasks. For example, if your HR team is looking to build out employee growth programs and focus on the employee experience, HR virtual assistants can handle the administrative side of HR so that your team can dedicate its time to developing those initiatives. 

Your HR Assistant Options

When it comes to hiring an HR virtual assistant, you have two primary paths to consider: 

Hiring an individual assistant 

You can find an HR virtual assistant to work with on a one-on-one basis. Here are the pros and cons of doing so: 

Pros: 

  • Direct control over hiring and training processes 
  • Potential for fostering a deep, personalized understanding of your organization 
  • Possibly lower cost for a single assistant 

Cons: 

  • Time-consuming recruitment and onboarding 
  • Limited availability (time off, sick days) 
  • Lack of scalability for fluctuating workloads 
  • No built-in backup support 

Hiring a managed VA service 

Or, you can hire a managed virtual assistant service, where an external company does the sourcing and training for you. Here are the pros and cons of that option: 

Pros: 

  • Access to a team of pre-trained professionals 
  • Consistent coverage with built-in backup support 
  • Scalability to meet changing needs 
  • Standardized processes and quality control 
  • Reduced management overhead for your team 

Cons: 

  • Potentially higher initial cost 
  • Less direct control over individual assistants
 

While both options have their merits, a managed VA service often provides a more comprehensive, flexible, and reliable solution for HR teams looking to optimize their operations. 

Hiring Prialto for your HR Virtual Assistant needs 

Prialto isn't just another virtual assistant service – we're your partner in HR transformation. Here's what sets us apart: 

  1. Seamless Team Integration: We don't just assign you an assistant; we become an extension of your HR team, adapting to your workflows and culture. 
  2. Continuous Improvement: Our assistants don't just follow processes – they help optimize them, constantly looking for ways to enhance your HR operations. 
  3. Scalable Support: Our packages start at 55 hours a month and scale up from there. You never have to worry about overages or hidden fees. 
  4. Data Security Guarantee: We understand the sensitivity of HR data. Our assistants are trained in data protection protocols and bound by strict confidentiality agreements. 

Ready to reclaim your time and transform your HR function? Let's chat. In a brief call, we can assess your needs and show you how Prialto can amplify your HR team's impact. 

Don't let administrative overload hold your HR potential hostage. With Prialto, you can focus on what truly matters – building a thriving, engaged workforce that drives your business forward.