Philippines Virtual Assistants

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.

*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.