Outsource to the Philippines and Watch your Business Thrive
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Finding a virtual worker can be tough. Many business owners who are new to outsourcing end up hiring the wrong people. So instead of saving time and money, they actually end up spending more when they outsource.
Well, nobody said outsourcing was easy—but it is worth it. The challenges those business owners encounter often revolved around communication issues. Despite being qualified for the job, their virtual workers would end up under-delivering and disappointing their employers.
The keyword here is communication. Finding a virtual worker is finding someone you can communicate with.
Outsourcing is supposed to help you shorten your to-do list and free up your time. So here’s how you can do just that: outsource to the Philippines.
The bright city lights of Cebu City at night / Cebu City, Philippines
Before choosing a country to outsource to, you need to consider the reasons you’re outsourcing in the first place.
The most common reasons why businesses outsource are:
Given these reasons, you’ll want to ask yourself the following questions:
With this set of questions, you can now decide which country to outsource to.
Let’s cut to the chase: you should outsource to the Philippines. This Southeast Asian country meets all the criteria listed above—and more.
Of the top 10 outsourcing countries, the Philippines has the highest population of English-speaking people at 63.73%, and the fifth-highest literacy rate at 96.3%. They also have the third-lowest minimum wage. This means you can easily hire a skilled Filipino worker who is good at speaking English at a lower rate.
Here is the comparison table for the top 10 outsourcing countries:
Living in the Philippines means you can rent a one-bedroom condo for $400 a month, eat a Big Mac for less than $3, and catch a movie for less than $5.
The Philippines is a developing country with a low cost of living. Its minimum wage is at 537 PHP (around $10.50) per day. That’s less than $300 a month for full-time work—eight hours a day, five days a week.
Just take a look at this Filipino virtual assistant salary guide.
Communication won’t be an issue with a Filipino virtual worker
English is a national language in the Philippines. It’s the language used in music, TV advertisements, billboards, and road signs. The Philippine constitution and all its laws are even in English.
Compared to workers from competitor countries like India and Malaysia, Filipinos have a better grasp of American English. We mentioned American English in particular because the Philippines was an American colony for almost 50 years. In fact, several US military bases are still in the country, and more than 220,000 Americans are permanent residents.
Filipinos are also completely in tune with American culture. When you go to cinemas, there are often more Hollywood movies than there are Filipino films. Filipinos are also fans of the same music, TV shows, and video games as Americans.
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Filipinos are efficient and hardworking
Filipinos are very efficient and hardworking because they are grateful to have an online job.
To understand why, here are the two major problems when it comes to working in the Philippines: 1) the minimum wage is not enough to feed a family, and 2) traffic in the city is a pain.
Labor groups have been lobbying for a higher minimum wage for years. Some companies even pay below minimum wage. This results in many Filipinos being unable to find a job that pays enough to support their families—or even themselves.
Traffic also takes away time that could be spent on more productive activities. For instance, thousands of Filipinos cross Commonwealth Avenue in Quezon City daily to get to their jobs. Traveling across the 8-mile-long highway takes them up to two hours or more. That’s four hours a day spent on the road, just to get to a different area in the same city. It’s ridiculous.
Having an online job saves Filipinos from these two problems. Remote jobs pay higher than the minimum wage and don’t require Filipinos to spend time and money on travel.
Commonwealth Avenue on a day without a traffic jam / Quezon City, Philippines
Filipinos are honest
John Jonas, the founder of Onlinejobs.ph, said that out of the tens of thousands of employers who have hired Filipinos using his site, only one of them experienced an incidence of dishonesty. A Filipino worker had stolen money from their employer because the employer hadn’t paid their salary on time.
This isn’t meant to be a horror story (but please pay your workers on time). It just goes to show how honest Filipinos are: that out of the thousands of remote workers hired, only one of them turned out to be dishonest.
This is because Filipinos have an honest culture. Of course, there are always outliers, such as the one from John’s example. But generally, Filipino workers can be trusted with highly sensitive information regarding your company. According to John, his Filipino workers even have access to all his credit cards. That’s how much he trusts them.
Filipinos have the necessary skills to help your company
Virtual workers in the Philippines have the skills your company needs. A lot of them have degrees in software development, accountancy, and marketing. They also know how to produce SEO-optimized content, how to edit videos, and how to manage your social media.
Additionally, Filipinos are fast learners. While they may not have the same level of experience as some US-based workers, they can be trained to perform as well as employees from anywhere in the world
The Filipino working population is young
Filipinos aged 15-34 make up 43% of the total working population in the Philippines. This younger workforce (otherwise known as ‘millennials’ and ‘Generation Z’) are technology natives.
Younger workers are ideal for startups and small to medium enterprises. They are more energetic and more eager to learn compared to their older counterparts. Their lack of experience can even be seen as an advantage. And their rates are cheaper than those who have a decade of experience.
Filipinos usually don’t have an entrepreneurial mindset
If you’re worried that your Filipino workers will steal your business ideas and become your competition, don’t be.
Filipinos looking for jobs online—namely lower-class and middle-class Filipinos—generally don’t have an entrepreneurial mindset. They likely don’t have the capital needed to start a business in the first place. And even if they did, they aren’t keen on taking financial risks. Filipinos prefer a stable source of income and are therefore not a possible threat to your business.
Now that you know why the Philippines is the best country to outsource, here are tips on how to outsource to the Philippines:
1. Hire from Onlinejobs.ph
If you want to outsource to the Philippines, Onlinejobs.ph is the best place to start your search. It’s an online job board that is exclusive to Filipino jobseeker, and there are more than a million resumes uploaded there.
Unlike other online job boards, Onlinejobs.ph encourages long-term working relationships instead of project-based opportunities. They don’t charge you a fee on top of your every transaction, and they don’t deduct fees from your employee.
The only thing you need to pay is the $69 a month subscription fee that can be canceled as soon as you hire someone. And given that you can find a Filipino outsourced worker in less than two weeks, it’s almost as if it’s a one-time fee.
* Disclosure: The link above is an affiliate link, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. To find out more about our view on affiliate products, please see this page.
2. Know what to expect from Filipino outsourced workers
Although Filipinos have a highly Westernized culture, they still have very distinct characteristics. One is that Filipinos are very shy. They’re easily intimated and are likely insecure about their accent and grammar (unless they’re writers and virtual assistants who handle phone calls). If you’re not used to being called “sir/ma’am” or “boss,” now’s the time to get used to it.
Their shyness can even stop them from asking questions or raising concerns. It’s best if you ask them how they’re doing from time to time and assure them that they can approach you when they have questions.
Filipinos are also very family-oriented. Make sure you include in the job ad what hours they will be working—and make sure to stick to it. While Filipinos can be very flexible and will want to accommodate your requests, their number one priority will always be their families. If the job cuts into their family time, they may not want to stay with your company for very long.
Additionally, make sure you give your Filipino workers a few hours off on Sundays. Some Filipinos are very religious. They usually go to church every Sunday, and they may bring up the possibility of taking the Holy Week (the week leading up to Easter) off since it’s considered the most important week in the Roman Catholic calendar. And speaking of holidays…
3. Consider how you’ll handle Filipino holidays
Familiarize yourself with Filipino holidays. You don’t have to give your Filipino workers days off on these holidays, and they probably don’t expect you to either. After all, the job isn’t based in the Philippines.
However, it is a nice gesture, and it will make them like and respect you more as their boss. And given that you’re saving a lot of money by hiring your Filipino workers, it’s a nice way to give back to them for their hard work.
Regular holidays are holidays that have a fixed date and that have national or international significance, such as Christmas or the Philippines’ independence day.
Here is the list of regular holidays in the Philippines:
Special non-working holidays, on the other hand, are additional holidays declared by the Philippine government. Here are the special non-working holidays in the Philippines:
Payment on these days varies. Again, you don’t have to follow these, but if you want to, here is the salary guide for paying Filipinos on holidays based on the Philippine Labor Code:
| Conditions | Regular Holidays | Special Non-working Holidays |
|
Did not work |
Daily rate | No work, no pay |
|
Worked on a weekday |
Daily rate x 2 | Daily rate x 1.3 |
Philippine flags line Aguinaldo Highway in celebration of the Philippine Independence Day / Cavite, Philippines
In the Philippines, employees who worked at least one month in a company are paid their ’13th month’ on the 24th of December (or before that).
Since your business isn’t based in the Philippines, you are not required to pay for your employee’s 13th month. Many business owners who outsource to the Philippines, however, opt to pay anyway.
This is because 1) they feel like their employees deserve it, and 2) Filipinos hope—if not expect—to receive their 13th-month pay. Many even include their 13th-month pay in their annual budgeting.
Here’s how to compute for the 13th month:
(Monthly salary x Months worked) / 12 = 13th month pay
So, for example, you have a Filipino outsourced worker who earns $300 a month and has worked for your company from March to December of 2018.
That means you’ll pay your Filipino outsourced worker $250 by December 24, 2018.
Here’s the computation:
($300 x 10) / 12 = $250
For very low rates, your Filipino virtual workers can help you scale your business. It’s all a matter of trusting them and allowing them to grow alongside your company.
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