Virtual administrative assistant for the paperwork that keeps a team running
Every team produces a steady stream of administrative work: forms to file, records to update, reports to assemble, onboarding packets to send and shared drives that slowly turn into a maze. A virtual administrative assistant keeps that layer in order so specialists can stay on their own work. On Aides you search ID-verified assistants by the exact admin skills you need, see how their hours line up with your team's, try them on a paid task and then hire and pay your assistant directly, with no agency margin on top.
- Every assistant passes an ID and liveness check. No AI personas.
- You pay your assistant directly. No markup.
Administrative tasks your assistant takes over
Admin work is about accuracy and consistency more than speed. Your assistant follows written procedures, keeps a log of what changed and flags anything that does not match.
- 01 Document preparation from templates, such as letters, quotes, purchase orders and standard agreements filled with the right details.
- 02 File and drive organization with a naming convention, folder rules and an archive schedule.
- 03 Record upkeep in spreadsheets, databases and the CRM, including deduplication and monthly cleanups.
- 04 Weekly internal reports compiled from several sources into one table for the manager.
- 05 New hire and contractor onboarding packets, account requests and equipment checklists.
- 06 Purchase requests, vendor forms and tracking orders until delivery.
- 07 Meeting room and resource booking for the team, plus shared calendar upkeep.
- 08 Policy and procedure documents kept current, with a change log.
- 09 Form processing, such as warranty registrations, permits or membership renewals.
Typical hours and overlap for admin work
Administrative support usually runs 15 to 30 hours a week. Fifteen hours covers documents and record upkeep for one department; thirty hours supports a whole small office with onboarding, purchasing and reports. Because most admin tasks are asynchronous, two to three overlapping hours a day are typically enough for questions and handovers. Teams that send many same-day requests should look for four or more. In the Aides search you set your team's hours and every profile shows how many of them the assistant shares.
- 15 hours a week for one department.
- 20 to 25 hours a week for a small office.
- 30 hours a week with onboarding and purchasing included.
How to hire an administrative assistant on Aides
For admin roles the trial task should test accuracy on your own material. The full process is described in how to hire a virtual assistant.
- 01 Search by the admin skills you need, such as document preparation or spreadsheet upkeep, and enter your team's hours.
- 02 Shortlist assistants whose skills test results show high accuracy and the software you use.
- 03 Message them with a short role description and one procedure you would hand over first.
- 04 Run a paid trial task of one to two hours, for example cleaning 200 rows of a contact list or preparing ten documents from a template.
- 05 Check the result line by line, then hire the assistant with the fewest errors and the clearest notes.
- 06 Agree hours, rate and confidentiality in writing and pay your assistant directly.
What an administrative assistant costs
Admin rates depend on the software involved and the level of written English. The typical rate band is 8 to 24 USD per hour. A worked example at 25 hours a week and a typical 14 USD per hour is 25 x 14 x 4.33 = 1,515.50 USD per month, paid to your assistant. An office manager who hands inbox, calendar and filing to one person usually starts on Starter with one active hire. Compare all limits on the virtual assistant cost page.
Why records should be handled by a verified person
Administrative assistants touch personnel files, customer records and contracts. An admin profile reaches the search results only once a government ID and a liveness scan prove the assistant is a real adult, with a profile photo of themselves and no invented persona behind it. You know who is editing your records, and the same person appears on the video call. Read the full process on our verified virtual assistant page.
- Verified identity before any conversation starts.
- Skills test results that show accuracy, not just claims.
- Identity verification report per hire as a PDF on Business and Enterprise.
Set up admin work so it runs without you
Write each recurring task as a short procedure with the trigger, the steps, where the result goes and who to ask. Keep the procedures in one shared folder your assistant can edit. Give access through named accounts, not shared passwords. Review a weekly log for the first month, then move to a monthly spot check of ten random records.
- One procedure per recurring task.
- Named accounts with only the access the task needs.
- A weekly change log in the first month.
FAQ
What is a virtual administrative assistant?
It is a remote assistant who handles the documents, records, forms and internal reporting that keep a team organized. The role is process-driven and focused on accuracy, as opposed to an executive assistant who manages one leader's time.
Which tasks should I avoid handing over?
Keep final approval of payments, legal sign-off and decisions about employees with your own staff. Your assistant can prepare all of it, but the decision stays with the responsible person.
How do I measure an admin assistant's work?
Track turnaround time per request and the error rate in a monthly spot check. A good target is same-day turnaround on routine requests and no errors in a ten-record spot check.
Can one assistant support several departments?
Yes. Give each department its own request channel and a priority order, and plan for 25 to 30 hours a week so requests do not queue.
Can I hire more than one assistant on one account?
Yes. Growth allows three active hires and Business allows ten, with seats for your colleagues to message and manage assistants.
Find an administrative assistant who works accurately
Search verified assistants by admin skill and overlap with your team's hours, then test them on your own documents.