Over the past decade, the call center and outsourcing business has exploded in the Philippines.
In fact, the island nation in Southeast Asia has built a solid reputation for loyal remote workers.
Advantages of Virtual Assistants in the Philippines
The new technology combined with a young, educated, and ambitious workforce has made the Philippines a popular (and affordable) location for virtual assistants.
English is widely spoken, and I think you’ll find the culture is slightly more “Western” than that of India. Many workers are used to working with Americans from past careers in customer support call centers or other BPO operations.
Students grow up learning English in school, even though they may not use it in their home.
For these assistants, the opportunity to work with you could mean a life of greater freedom. It’s the chance to work from home, have some flexibility in terms of their hours, and probably earn more money.
Virtual or remote work is seen as a prestigious, sought-after, and maybe even envious career path.
Workers are loyal and polite, but sometimes slow to ask for help or clarification — sometimes to the point of disappearing without a trace. (Yes, it happens!)
And because of the time zone differences, you can essentially have a virtual assistant or assistants working while you sleep. Depending on your business, that could be a huge plus.
| OnlineJobs.ph | Wing Assistant | FreeUp | Online VA Team | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Customer Rating | ||||
| Established | 2009 | 2018 | 2015 | 2014 |
| Hourly Rate | $3-8 | $6.878.75 | $5-20 | $7+ |
| Minimum Package | $69 to post a job | $699 for 80 hours | Free to post a job | 20 hrs for $250 |
| Dedicated Assistant | ||||
| Best For | Full-time hires | Small & Medium Business Owners, IT Services, Marketing Agencies, SaaS | Quick pre-vetted hires in e-commerce and marketing | Small & Medium businesses |
| Team Access | ||||
| Rollover Hours | ||||
| Free Trial | *For limited range of services | |||
| Learn More | Learn More | Learn More | Learn More |
*Dedicated option available.
Drawbacks to Hiring Virtual Assistants in the Philippines
Infrastructure
As in other developing countries, infrastructure problems can come up from time to time as tropical storms and brown outs knock out electricity and Internet access.
Magical Disappearing Assistants
It’s never happened to me, but I’ve heard frequent stories of virtual assistants just “ghosting” their employers — going dark and not responding to any communication.
My understanding this is often out of an extreme cultural shyness or passiveness. It’s seen as better to avoid conflict altogether than to rock the boat.
For most Westerners, that’s incredibly frustrating and hard to comprehend. Like, if you have a question, just ask! If you’re going to be late on a project, say why! I hired you for a reason, and I’ll probably understand.
This issue underscores the importance of regular communication and insisting on an open door policy where questions and even failures are encouraged at the beginning of a relationship.
Time Zone Considerations
The Philippines is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time and 16 hours ahead of Pacific time. That can make communication tricky if your assistant is working the day shift.
(The time zone is much closer to Australia, which makes Filipino outsourcing an even more popular choice for businesses there.)
Still, many assistants are used to working American business hours from previous outsourcing jobs.
The 13th Month
This isn’t so much a drawback is it something to be aware of, but there’s a custom in the Philippines known as the 13th month.
What that means is workers essentially expect a “Christmas bonus” equal to a month’s salary in December. If you hire a dedicated freelance VA through a service like OnlineJobs, it would be considered very polite and appropriate to pay that bonus.
If you hire through a virtual assistant company, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Education May Not Be as Strong (and Ends Earlier)
College graduates in the Philippines are often 20 years old, instead of 22 or 23. And this may be personal experience, but I don’t think the education system is as strong as in Western countries.
For example, when I was recruiting web developers, college grads with programming degrees couldn’t complete basic test tasks or answer simple coding questions. Maybe they were just overstating their qualifications, but I found that frustrating.
And that brings up a best-practice: before you hire, try a few “trial tasks” as part of your interview process.
How Much Do Virtual Assistants in the Philippines Cost?
Through a virtual job board like OnlineJobs, you’ll find full-time workers for as little as $400 a month, which equates to $3 an hour or less.
Naturally, the more skilled the hire you’re looking for, the rates go up. But let’s put it this way: it’s a country where you can live VERY well on $1000-1500 a month. That $1500 would be at the very high end of the pay spectrum for a solo freelance VA.
If you hire through a virtual assistant company, you’ll often see rates in the range of $6-15 an hour.
And as you might expect when hiring through a company, the bigger the monthly package you sign up, the better your equivalent hourly rate.
My Experience Working with Virtual Assistants in the Philippines
Like my outsourcing adventures elsewhere, I’ve found some amazing talent here — interspersed with some less-than-awesome experiences.
I’ve found workers on OnlineJobs with masters degrees in nursing and marine biology, who found it was more rewarding to work online.
One of my longest-running outsourcing relationships is with OkayRelax. I’ve been assigned several different assistants from the Philippines and they’ve all been above average.
Years ago, I used a recruiting service to try and find a full-time assistant but wasn’t impressed with the results. I was in a rush to fill the position and should have invested more time in training, but this person didn’t show much initiative in problem solving and didn’t show up to work when we’d agreed.
Now I’m testing a new design service and we’re off to a good start. My dedicated designer is fast to respond and incorporate feedback.
Which Filipino Virtual Assistant Company Should You Choose?
But despite the popularity of outsourcing to the Philippines, I don’t yet have a clear cut “favorite” company I refer people to. There are different “flavors” and different specialties depending on your needs.
The good news is that because of the robust VA economy, you have several options to choose from ranging from low-cost task-based services like OkayRelax, all the way up to full-time dedicated assistants — and everything in between.
Check out the reviews below to see which option is right for you.
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Pepper VA is a virtual assistant company specializing in providing virtual assistants at competitive rates to small and medium-sized businesses all over the world. The company is based in the Philippines, with offices in Manila and Davao City. Most of […]
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MicroSourcing is an offshore and outsourcing solutions provider based in the Philippines. They help companies start up operations in the Philippines by supplying modern workspaces and recruiting staff. They started operations in 2006, and currently have the capacity to provide […]
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ShoreAgents is a virtual assistant company specializing in providing virtual assistants to businesses in the real estate industry. The company is headquartered in the Philippines and all of their staff work out of their offices in the same location. About […]
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Helpware is a virtual assistant provider and customer service support company. They help clients build and manage remote customer support teams and offer a range of tools to help businesses streamline their workflow processes. The company was founded in 2015. […]
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Virtual Assistant Talent is well-known virtual assistant company in the Philippines. The firm was founded in 2010 by John Davern, Jr., a human resources professional and real estate investor. The company specializes in helping busy entrepreneurs maximize their time with […]
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DocVA is one of the prominent virtual medical staffing services. They focus on providing top-notch Virtual Medical Assistants (VAs) to healthcare practitioners in the United States of America such as dentists, vets, and medical doctors. In essence, their target is […]
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Remote Workmate is an Australian-registered virtual staffing solutions company that puts a spotlight exclusively on outstanding Filipino virtual assistants. The company has been known to some since 2008 when Australians John Paul Grant and Matt Canty, who were then based […]
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Ataraxis Hiring the right virtual assistant (VA) can be transformative for businesses by freeing up time, reducing costs, and scaling operations. But sifting through freelancer marketplaces or vetting candidates globally is time-consuming and risky. Ataraxis solves this by offering pre-vetted, […]
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Founded 2013, Bolton Remote is an offshore staffing solution based in the Philippines. They’re not so much a virtual assistant company as they are a simplified way to build a remote support team for your business. The team is led […]
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VALUE Virtual Assistants is a virtual assistant company based out of the Philippines. Their virtual assistants go “above and beyond” when it comes to experience and skills acquired. Despite having these qualities, they still maintain the competitive edge and ensure […]
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Virtual Done Well is a virtual assistant company based in the Philippines. They specialize in supplying virtual assistants to small and medium sized companies in Australia. The company is headed up by Rob O’Byrne. All of their VAs are based […]
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UPDATE: It appears Ask Virtual Services is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Ask Virtual Services is an international virtual assistant company with clients primarily in the US, UK, and Canada, as well as servicing clients in […]
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Kamel BPO is a Canadian-owned and operated Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company based in Clark, Pampanga, Philippines. Since its establishment in 2017, Kamel BPO has built a reputation for providing high-quality, flexible outsourcing solutions. Their focus on recruiting highly educated […]
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Catch Friday is a UK-based virtual assistant and outsourcing company with an overseas office in the Philippines. The name comes from the idea of shortening your work week and being able to “catch Friday” a little earlier. The company was […]
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Mr. Outsource is a professional virtual assistant company. The company is headed up by Erlend Bakke, and all of their VA’s are based in the Philippines. They have been in business since 2008, and provide virtual assistant solutions to entrepreneurs […]
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UPDATE: It appears TaskDesk is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives or see below. If you own this listing or this information is incorrect, contact me here. TaskDesk is a virtual assistant company with their headquarters based in Houston, […]
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1840 & Company is a US-based outsourcing company that helps businesses of all sizes hire global remote freelancers to fill a variety of positions, including virtual assistants. The company is headquartered in Overland Park, Kansas, United States with hubs in […]
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Penbrothers is a company specializing in providing offshore recruitment, flexible office spaces, legal services, and payroll assistance to startups and small businesses. The company is based in the Philippines, and they have been operating since December 2014. About Penbrothers The […]
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Super Virtuals is a virtual assistant provider that recruits, screens, and manages remote talent for businesses all over the world. The company is headquartered in Louisville, KY. All of their virtual assistants are based in the Philippines. About Super Virtuals […]
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Dynamite Jobs is an online platform aggregating and sharing the best remote jobs from hundreds of sources, posting over 300 new remote jobs each week. If you’re looking for a position where you can work remotely or if you’re a […]