A remote receptionist answers your business calls from somewhere other than your front desk, usually from home, with a headset, a laptop and a phone system that forwards your number to them. Callers hear your business name and a real person. They don't need to know where that person is sitting.
The term covers three different set-ups: your own employee working from home, someone at an answering company taking your calls alongside other clients', or, loosely, an AI receptionist answering in software. This guide separates those work models, explains what a remote receptionist handles, covers hours and handover, and shows where AI fills the gaps.
If you already know you want a third-party service and want to see how one runs day to day, our virtual receptionist service guide covers that. If you're weighing a provider against hiring, see the outsourced receptionist guide. This page is about the work model itself: who answers, from where, and how the hand-off back to you works.
Remote, in-house, virtual or AI: four ways to staff the phone
In-house receptionist (on site). Your employee, at your front desk, during rostered hours. They answer calls, greet visitors, sign for deliveries and pick up admin. They know your business best, but one person covers one line, only while rostered on.
Remote receptionist (your employee, off site). The same role and the same employment relationship, done from home or another location. Calls reach them through a cloud phone system, a softphone app or call forwarding. They can't greet visitors or sign for parcels, but they can do everything that happens on a phone or a screen. You're still the employer, with the usual obligations plus some specific to work done at home (covered below).
Virtual receptionist (a third-party team). A provider's receptionists answer your calls in your name, usually on a shared roster across many client businesses, following a script you agree. You don't employ them; you pay the provider. Many providers advertise "remote receptionist services", which is why the terms blur.
AI receptionist (software). An AI voice agent answers your number, works from business information and rules you approve, takes details, can book into your calendar if you allow it, and sends you a summary. There's no roster, desk or location behind it. Our AI receptionist Australia page explains how it works for local businesses.
The table below compares the four as work models, not as products.
| In-house (on site) | Remote (your employee) | Virtual (third-party team) | AI receptionist | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Employment relationship | Your employee | Your employee | Provider's staff, under your contract with the provider | None, it's a software service |
| Where the work happens | Your premises | Their home or another location | The provider's office or staff homes | In the cloud |
| Who sets the hours | You, via the roster | You, via the roster | The plan you buy | You set when it answers |
| Workstation safety | Your workplace | Still your duty, at their home | The provider's duty to its staff | Not applicable |
| Visitors and deliveries | Yes | No | No | No |
| How messages reach you | In person, notes, chat | Chat, email, SMS, shared notes | The provider's app, email or SMS | A summary after each call |
| What you set up | A desk and a phone | Forwarding, system access, equipment | A script and your hours | Business info, rules and a transfer path |
What a remote receptionist actually handles
Whether it's your employee or a provider's team, the work is mostly the phone and the inbox:
- Answering calls in your business name with an agreed greeting.
- Taking complete messages: name, number, reason for calling and the best time to call back.
- Transferring calls to the right person, or to your mobile if it's urgent.
- Booking, moving and cancelling appointments in your calendar or booking system.
- Answering common questions such as opening hours, location, services and what to bring.
- Screening calls so sales pitches and spam don't reach you.
- Light admin like updating the CRM, sending confirmation emails or texts, and keeping call notes.
What a remote receptionist can't do is anything physical: greeting someone at the door, handing over keys, signing for deliveries or keeping an eye on the waiting room.
Setting up a remote receptionist
Most remote reception set-ups rest on the same five building blocks.
- Your number goes to them. Calls are routed through a cloud phone system, a softphone on their laptop, or plain forwarding to their phone. Our guide to call forwarding explains the options, and a virtual phone number or 1300 number can sit in front so the number callers see never changes.
- They can see what they need. Access to your calendar, booking system, CRM or a shared notes document, so they can answer and book without ringing you first.
- A script and an FAQ. Your greeting, how to describe your services, what they can and can't quote, and who handles what.
- A handover rule. When to transfer, when to take a message, when to text you, and where messages land.
- Equipment and a quiet space. A good headset, reliable internet and a room without a TV or a barking dog in the background. Callers notice.
Hours and handover: where remote set-ups break
Hours. A remote employee works their rostered hours, like anyone else. Lunch, sick days, leave and the time after they log off all need a plan. For many small businesses the calls that matter come early in the morning, at lunchtime or after 5pm, exactly when a single receptionist is least likely to be available. Our after-hours phone answering guide covers the options for that gap.
Out-of-hours contact. It's tempting to ask a remote employee to "just keep an eye on the phone" in the evening. The Fair Work Ombudsman's right to disconnect page explains that employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact outside their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable. It has applied to employees of small business employers (fewer than 15 employees) since 26 August 2025. Whether a refusal is unreasonable depends on factors including the reason for the contact, how disruptive it is, whether the employee is paid extra to be available, their role, and their personal circumstances. If you need evening cover, roster it and pay for it, or use something built for it, rather than relying on goodwill.
Handover. Every model needs a clean way to pass the baton: between shifts, from the receptionist to you, and from the phone to whoever does the work. Agree where messages go, how quickly you'll see them, and what counts as urgent.
Your duties when the receptionist is your employee
If the person answering your calls from home is your employee, their home workstation is still part of your work health and safety picture.
Safe Work Australia's working from home WHS duties page says a person conducting a business or undertaking must ensure, so far as is reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers when they work from home. Those duties apply even if the worker asked to work from home. You must also consult workers about health and safety issues that may directly affect them.
The worker information sheet on working from home gives practical examples, including fit-for-purpose equipment such as headsets for workers who make frequent calls, discouraging logging on after hours to minimise fatigue, and scheduling core hours so the worker has supervision and support. Safe Work Australia's working from home checklist is a sensible place to start.
Pay, super and leave work the same way as for an on-site receptionist. Our receptionist salary breakdown walks through those costs using official Fair Work and ATO sources. This is general information, not legal advice; check your state or territory WHS regulator's guidance too.
When an AI receptionist covers it
An AI receptionist won't replace someone who knows your regulars by name, but it does cover the parts of the job where remote set-ups struggle most:
- Calls outside rostered hours, including early mornings, evenings, weekends and public holidays.
- Lunch, leave and sick days, without arranging cover.
- A second call at the same time, so that caller isn't sent to voicemail.
- Routine questions and bookings that follow a clear script.
- A written summary of every call, delivered the same way each time.
A person is still better for complaints, sensitive conversations and anything that needs judgement beyond the rules you set. For a closer look at people versus software, see our AI receptionist vs virtual receptionist comparison.
A worked example: one remote receptionist plus AI
Here's how a small clinic or trade business with one part-time remote receptionist might split a weekday. The hours are illustrative; use your own call notes.
- Before 9am: AI answers, books routine appointments and flags anything urgent to the owner's mobile.
- 9am to 2pm: the remote receptionist answers. If they're already on a call, the second caller goes to AI instead of voicemail.
- Their lunch break: AI answers; the receptionist reads the summaries when they're back.
- After 2pm and after close: AI answers. Urgent calls follow the rule you set, such as a transfer or a text to whoever is on call.
- Next morning: the receptionist starts with the overnight summaries and returns any calls that need a person.
Nobody watches the phone outside their hours, callers always reach something useful, and the handover is written down. Start with a week of call notes (when calls arrive, how many you miss, what callers want) and adjust the split to match.
Where Miyai fits
Miyai is an AI receptionist for Australian service businesses. It can be the whole front line or the cover around a receptionist you already have, whether they sit at your desk or work from home. It answers in your business name, handles common questions from information you approve, takes the caller's name, number and reason for calling, books appointments if you allow it, and sends you a summary.
Website chat is $19 AUD/month and the Growth voice plan is $199 AUD/month. See pricing for what's included, or virtual receptionist Australia if you're comparing remote reception options. When you're ready, Get started.
FAQ
What does a remote receptionist do?
A remote receptionist answers your business calls from off site. They take messages, transfer calls, book appointments, answer common questions and handle light admin. They can't greet visitors or sign for deliveries.
Is a remote receptionist the same as a virtual receptionist?
Not quite. "Remote receptionist" often means your own employee working from home. "Virtual receptionist" usually means a third-party team answering calls for many businesses. Providers use both terms, so ask who will actually answer your calls.
How does a receptionist answer my business number from home?
Your number is routed to them through a cloud phone system, a softphone app or call forwarding. They also need access to your calendar or booking system, a script, a headset and a quiet space. If they're your employee, your WHS duties still apply at their home.
Can I ask a remote receptionist to answer calls after hours?
You can roster and pay them for those hours. Outside their working hours, the right to disconnect lets employees refuse to monitor or respond to work contact unless the refusal is unreasonable. It has applied to small business employees since 26 August 2025.
Is AI replacing receptionists?
In many small businesses AI is taking routine, overflow and after-hours calls. People are still better for complex, sensitive or emotional conversations and anything in person. Many businesses use both.
How much does a remote receptionist cost?
It depends on the model. An employee costs award pay, super and on-costs (see our salary breakdown). A third-party service charges its own plan or per-call fees, so get written quotes. Miyai's Growth voice plan is $199 AUD/month.