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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UPDATE: It appears TayStone BPO is offline and no longer operating. Please see below for some Time Etc, OnlineJobs.ph, or Task Bullet as alternatives. TayStone BPO is a business-class virtual assistant company, providing virtual assistants for entrepreneurs and small businesses […]
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UPDATE: EasyOutsource is now a dead site and has transferred to OnlineJobs.ph. Please check our their page here. EasyOutsource is a virtual assistant job board based in the Philippines; they have a large database of Filipino virtual assistants and provide a […]
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UPDATE: It appears Remote Staff Recruit is out of business. Please consider one of these alternatives. Remote Staff Recruit is a virtual assistant recruiting firm in the Philippines. Founders John Paul Grant and Matt Canty are a pair of Aussies […]
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Outsource Workers is an Australian based company specializing in providing virtual assistants from the Philippines. Founded in July 2013, they have worked with hundreds of clients and have established themselves in the Australian and New Zealand markets as reliable, and […]
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GoVirtuals is a virtual assistant company specializing in providing dedicated virtual assistants to small and medium-sized businesses all over the world. The company is based in the Philippines, and their virtual assistants work remotely across the Philippines. About GoVirtuals The […]
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HomeJobs is an online platform that connects clients with home-based freelancers in the Philippines. The company started operations in mid-2018, and they say they already have almost 1 million workers in their database. About HomeJobs.ph HomeJobs is a team of […]
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Zylun is an outsourcing center in the Philippines, catering to small and medium-sized businesses. The company opened their doors in 2010, and now employs more than 150 programmers, content writers, Internet marketing specialists, and virtual assistants. Where many other Filipino […]
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TaskUs is a “boutique” outsourcing company in the Philippines, with a sales office in Los Angeles. The company has grown from 5 employees in 2008, to over 400 today, all working out of a dedicated office space in Manila. The […]
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Outsourcing Things Done is a virtual assistant company in the Philippines. Founded in 2009, the company has positioned themselves as a premium entry in the market. Outsourcing Things Done VAs are available in a few different areas of expertise including […]