How To Hire Remote Without The Headache With This Virtual Assistant Company

Having a remote team seems like the ultimate freedom.

You can hire anyone from anywhere, acquiring the best talent wherever you find it, and creating incredible diversity in the process.

Except that’s not exactly true.

Hiring remote workers doesn’t automatically mean you can hire anywhere. You can only have employees in states where your company is registered to do business. That means you have the potential for 50 different sets of rules to follow.

That lets the wind out of the sails a bit, doesn’t it?

You’ll need to register to pay taxes in the states where your employees live. Some states require special insurance depending on the situation. Some states have restrictions on what you can ask employees during the hiring process. There are different laws regarding vacation, sick leave, firing—the list goes on.

Unless you hire remote employees who live where you are located, the reality is that you’ll need to get acquainted with complicated tax and employment laws that are different for possibly every employee.

So how do you actually hire remote employees without adding a bunch of time-consuming admin tasks to your plate?

The answer is pretty simple, actually. You use a virtual assistant company, like Boldly, who takes care of all of that. You get the benefits of access to nationwide talent who are W2 employees of Boldly, without any of the red tape.

Let’s see what that means for you.

Virtual Assistant Company Without The Administrative Headache

We take care of the administrative headache so you don’t have to.

We really mean that, both that it’s a headache, and that we handle it.

If you were to hire remote employees yourself, there are questions you have to ask about remote staffing compliance before even beginning the hiring process.

• Are you registered to do business in that state?
• Are you registered with the state’s labor department so that you can actually hire employees there?
• Do you know the wage, salary, overtime, and other compensation requirements for that state? How about workers comp, benefits, and disability insurance?
• Have you met all of the requirements regarding legally required posters (which you’d have to mail to remote workers)?
• Have all necessary forms been filled out (e.g. I-9)?
• Do you know what is allowed during the hiring process (i.e. some states restrict what you can ask a potential hire during the interview process)

That’s just the short list. You’re either going to need your HR or legal department to handle it, or you’ll have to take it on yourself. How many hours will that add to your already full plate?

Clearly, there’s significant work that goes into hiring employees from other states. It’s both expensive and time-consuming, and many companies end up simply hiring from where they’re located to avoid the hassle. They self-limit the talent they could have, just to avoid the administrative mess.

Why would you want to miss out on incredible talent just because of red tape?

At Boldly, we handle all of that because we don’t think you should miss out on that great talent.

We’re a virtual assistant company whose team members are all W2 employees, meaning we’ve taken care of any and all legal issues. When you sign up with Boldly and bring on a new remote team member, you don’t have to worry about any of the things we mentioned above because they are not your employee.

Compliant In Every State For Peace Of Mind

Not only is there the issue of the location of your new employee, but there’s another aspect to being completely compliant; it has to do with whether someone is an independent contractor or an employee.

One way people build a remote team and try to avoid the administrative concerns we just described is to hire people as independent contractors instead of employees.

That may seem like an easy fix, but it really isn’t. You can actually get yourself into more trouble if you don’t follow the different definitions of a contractor vs. employee. According to the IRS, the difference between the two is based on these factors:

• Behavioral: Do you control, or have the right to control, what your remote team member does, and how they do their job?
• Financial: Do you control the financial aspects of your remote team member’s job? That includes how/when they’re paid, if you reimburse expenses, or if you provide them with the tools to do their job.
• Relational: Have you defined the working relationship, indicated permanency in the position, have certain types of contracts or agreements, or understand they’ll be working for you on an ongoing basis?

You can see how easy it could be to go from contractor to employee status without even realizing it.

If you’re bringing someone on as an independent contractor thinking they’ll be a substitute for an employee, you’re already on the path towards non-compliance. Your intention is that they’ll do an employee’s work, and you’ll treat them accordingly.

Even if you start out following the rules for independent contractors, the longer someone works for you and the more you rely on them, the blurrier the line between contractor and employee becomes.

And let’s not forget that different states have different legal definitions of what an independent contractor is. California’s AB5 law was the real wake-up call for many. Their new definition made people aware that contractors and employees had different definitions, and that getting it wrong meant a real penalty for companies. So it’s not just the federal guidelines you have to keep tabs on!

With Boldly, you don’t have to worry about compliance.

We hire all of our team members as W2 employees. When you subscribe to our service and get access to a team member, you don’t have to worry that you’re misusing an independent contractor as an employee. Your remote team member is already an employee at Boldly and is not considered an independent contractor when working with you.

Incredible Talent To Grow Your Team

It’s pretty clear that legal compliance issues make hiring remote employees from out-of-state much more complicated than you probably thought. Maybe it’s even enough to stop you from looking outside of your area to hire.

You know there’s a world of top-notch talent that could help your business grow, but accessing it is too frustrating. It’s a real shame to feel hemmed in and restricted to your current locale simply because of concern over compliance.

So let’s focus on something we alluded to, and that’s the reality that when you’re free from the administrative headache, you can focus on finding incredible talent, wherever it might be, to grow your team.

Unlike a lot of other virtual assistant services who sign up a pool of workers and assign one to you as need arises (often as independent contractors that you must be in compliance with), we went a different route. We found the most incredibly talented and experienced people out there, using our own arduous hiring process. We’re talking top-notch Fortune-500 experienced team members you might not think you’d ever have access to. Plus, they’re full employees with benefits and Boldly’s great culture to back them up.

When you get started with Boldly, we listen to you so we know exactly what you’re looking for, and we match you with someone who’s a perfect fit. We make sure that you’re working well together from the beginning.

Basically, we’re setting you up for long-term success with the same virtual assistant. You don’t need to worry about anything. And, because of our subscription staffing model, you don’t even have to worry about your budget. You adjust the hours your virtual assistant works based on what you need.

Ready to get started? You don’t have to waste time on long hiring processes, compliance issues, or anything else. You can be up and running quickly with a new, fully compliant, virtual assistant, with just one click.

Topic: Remote Staffing