Karin found her dream job as a Prialto Productivity Assistant (PA) after toiling in call centers in Guatemala.
Angel worked as a PA, and her managers gave her time to study for medical school exams—she passed and is now off to med school.
Josh has been promoted from PA to Team Captain and Team Leader and is studying to get his MBA.
These are just a few of the stories happening behind the scenes typical of Prialto's culture of amplifying people. The tagline doesn't just apply to what we do for our customers. We exist to crank up the lives of our employees as well.
As a managed virtual assistant service, Prialto recruits, hires, trains, and supervises our PAs. They are full-time employees of Prialto—think the international equivalent of W-2 employees with competitive salaries and benefits. Most virtual assistant agencies use contractors and match executives with virtual assistants. While the client pays the agency, the agency simply makes the connection. Any further training, management, or professional development is up to the client.
Many of our PAs come from other Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) companies common in Guatemala and the Philippines—primarily call centers for global brands. They come to Prialto because they want to learn more, contribute more, grow more, and, well, be more. We look for people who wish to become leaders. "Prialto is the best place to work in Guatemala because you are treated like a person," PA Ana said. "If you take the opportunities to grow and look for ways to contribute, you will be rewarded."
The BPO industry has an employee turnover rate of around 50 percent. However, Prialto's turnover rate in 2020 was 22 percent, and the average since 2017 is about 25 percent or half of the industry average. Employees stay at Prialto because as PAs learn their strengths, they find roles that align with their interests and goals and build careers with the company.
For example, all PAs play a role in training new hires, and Ron saw the importance immediately. "When new PAs have the right tools, knowledge, and attitude, they will deliver an excellent service that delights our members," he said. "Happy members will refer new customers to Prialto." In addition, the rapid growth of the team in Manila created growth opportunities for employees. "When we created a training position, I jumped at the opportunity," Ron said. He's now a PA and Training Coordinator.
These are the people that thrive at Prialto—those that want to build great careers while providing a valuable service. "Who wouldn't want to work with a CEO," said PA Saida. "We get to make a difference in U.S. businesses. We get to know people and build long-term relationships with customers. You don't do that at call centers."
The term "virtual assistant" is a bit of a misnomer in that it implies that the assistant is not real, which can diminish the perception of the importance of the role. The "realness" of Priatlo employees is at the heart of the service we deliver and the opportunities that the service offers employees. We look for people who want to learn and grow with us and want to invest in the success of their members and lead Prialto into the future.
"One of my members was surprised when he met me," Senior PA and Trainer Shelia said. "He thought a virtual assistant would be an AI bot. 'Oh, you're real?' he said!"
Very real indeed.
To learn how to work with a Prialto virtual assistant, check out this guide.