Administrative Work You Are Wasting Your Time On!

Last Updated on October 21, 2024

Did you know that 72% of startup founders feel overwhelmed by administrative tasks? Imagine reclaiming those hours and focusing on what you do best—growing your business.

Nonetheless, all startup founders and CEOs know their role involves many multifaceted functions. This is where effective time management comes in, which many have not yet mastered. The result for those who struggle with time management is burnout.

However, this can be avoided by delegating the administrative work to a virtual assistant, allowing you to regain precious time and energy. A remote assistant can complete tasks such as directing and answering calls, filing information, and more.

Administrative Work Can Be Time Consuming

What Are Administrative Tasks?

Have you ever wondered what’s eating up your day? Those small, repetitive tasks might be the culprits! Administrative tasks are responsibilities associated with successfully maintaining an office. These tasks can differ between workplaces. However, the most common tasks include answering phones, scheduling appointments, and creating organized filing systems for the business or startup. Although these tasks are essential, they are often time-consuming.

Administrative duties require numerous professionals, such as administrative assistants, office assistants, executive or personal assistants, and office managers.

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How much time is spent on administrative tasks?

Imagine what you could achieve with an extra 300 hours a year! That’s how much time you’re likely wasting on administrative tasks. The reality is that individuals spend over 300 hours annually on administrative tasks like email handling, data entry, and scheduling across industries and roles. This substantial time investment underscores the need to streamline processes and harness technology to boost productivity and prioritize core business activities. The main administrative tasks can waste up to 20% of your productivity.

The Top Administrative Tasks

Good communication is the backbone of any successful business and a significant time drain. What if you could delegate it?

Below are the most common admin tasks that can be time-consuming and repetitive. Although they must be completed for the smooth functioning of the business, these tasks do not directly lead to revenue gain, as in strategic decision-making.

Communication

Administrative specialists should have solid communication skills to conduct their tasks operationally. This can range from writing emails to answering phones to interacting with the staff and executives. All info should be shared concisely and clearly so others can comprehend it.

Here are the most popular administrative tasks linked to communication:

  • Replying to and transferring phone calls
  • Taking telephone memos from customers
  • Sending out emails to clients
  • Sending emails from customers to the appropriate staff member
  • Managing client complaints and concerns
  • Assisting with business communication
  • Conducting customer-service duties, for example, placing orders for clients and clarifying services and products
  • Taking meeting notes.

Scheduling

Staying on top of schedules can feel like juggling knives. What if you had an expert juggler? Scheduling is an additional essential element of an administrative assistant’s work responsibilities. Many admin assistants are responsible for the CEO’s or manager’s schedules. Such assistants should be able to organize and plot everyone’s schedule to be operational, allowing for every entry on the program to be completed in good time.

The following are some widespread scheduling duties of an admin assistant:

  • Organizing events, for example, planning client dinners
  • Planning office parties such as luncheons or out-of-office team-building events
  • Scheduling client appointments
  • Scheduling CEO’s or manager’s appointments
  • Planning company meetings
  • Reserving and planning travel itineraries for CEOs and other staff members
  • Scheduling meeting rooms for meetings or conferences.

Onboarding

First impressions matter. Make sure your new hires feel welcomed and supported from day one. Remote admin assistants could additionally help with the onboarding of new staff. Here, the virtual assistant can work with the HR department as a human resources assistant. Everyday onboarding tasks include:

  • welcoming new staff members by orientating them to the work and filing systems
  • giving new staff members all appropriate documents needed, for example, the staff handbook
  • sending new staff members paperwork that should be completed
  • furnishing the info for office procedures and policies
  • assisting new staff members to complete the paperwork needed to sign up for health insurance benefits or even 401(k) plans
  • informing new staff members of the company’s organogram
  • ordering office supplies for new employees
  • supplying them with a computer and email address.

Bookkeeping

Numbers don’t lie, but they sure can be tedious. Delegate your bookkeeping to free up your time for strategic decisions. In some cases, an admin person would also manage the bookkeeping tasks. This is particularly true for smaller companies lacking the skill set to complete this work. However, here are some of the functions an admin assistant can complete:

  • record day-to-day outgoing and incoming transactions
  • update business accounts using online programs
  • handle payments from customers
  • reconcile the financial reports for the business
  • compose the financial statements for the company on a monthly or even weekly basis
  • keep track of office expenses or expenditures sustained by CEOs and managers
  • reimburse staff members for work-related costs
  • generate invoices for clients
  • complete any outstanding tasks around the payroll.

Organization

An organized office is a productive office. Let a virtual assistant bring order to your chaos. Organization is a chief aspect of most admin assistants’ day-to-day responsibilities. Such assistants should be able to effectively handle numerous calendars, appointments, meetings, and additional events in an operational way to guarantee that the office keeps running well. Everyday admin tasks include:

  • retaining calendars for CEOs and managers
  • arranging and delivering emails to the relevant beneficiaries
  • taking consistent inventory of workplace supplies
  • establishing office files so that info can easily be retrieved and grasped by staff
  • filing numerous documents on local computers or cloud services.

Computer and Technology

Technology can be both a blessing and a curse. Let a virtual assistant take on the tech tasks so you can focus on innovation. Remote admin assistants will use a computer and numerous software and technology modes to complete their work. Here are some admin tasks linked to computers and technology:

  • software such as Microsoft Office Suite (e.g., PowerPoint and Word)
  • arranging for repairs of office equipment such as phones or printers
  • using publishing software, for example, WordPress, to bring up-to-date the business blog or website
  • ordering office materials if the inventory is low
  • acting out desktop research
  • using time and billing software to add the data to the company system
  • organizing online webinars and conferences
  • transcribing several forms of info and uploading this to the company cloud services
  • handling office documentation using computer-based documentation software.

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Additional Administrative Responsibilities

Additional admin tasks a virtual administrative assistant can be tasked to do include:

  • managing research projects for management connected to numerous issues − competitors, laws, regulations, and particulars about specialized associations
  • retaining the social media accounts for the business
  • assisting in the case of a worker resigning, for instance, by carrying out an exit consultation
  • collecting and organizing paperwork on all staff members
  • bringing internal organization documents up to date
  • distributing emails.

The Bottom Line: Administrative Work You Are Wasting Your Time On

Ready to reclaim 300 hours a year? It’s time to rethink your approach to administrative tasks. The prevalence of time-consuming administrative tasks underscores the need for a paradigm shift in approaching work efficiency. With over 300 hours squandered annually on activities that often detract from core business functions, it’s imperative to reassess and streamline these processes. Embracing technological solutions, outsourcing non-essential tasks to skilled virtual assistants, and implementing more brilliant workflow strategies can empower individuals and organizations to reclaim valuable time and focus on what truly matters for productivity and success in the modern workplace.

3 Key Takeaways

The article highlights the importance of time management for startup founders and CEOs and how a virtual assistant can help. Here are the three key takeaways:

  • Administrative tasks eat up valuable time: Startup founders spend a significant amount of time (over 300 hours annually) on repetitive administrative tasks like scheduling, communication, and bookkeeping. This takes away from core business activities like strategic planning.

  • Virtual assistants free you to focus on core business: By delegating these administrative tasks to a virtual assistant, founders can reclaim their time and focus on what truly matters for growth and success.

  • Virtual assistants can handle a wide range of tasks: The article provides a detailed list of administrative tasks a virtual assistant can manage, including communication (emails, phone calls), scheduling (appointments, meetings, travel), onboarding new staff, basic bookkeeping, organization (filing, calendars), and computer/technology-related tasks.


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