Learn the proper way to hire virtual assistants from the Philippines to save your company thousands of dollars in employee costs and do it in a way where you don't compromise the quality of the staff you hire.
If you're starting in business or currently expanding one, then you will already know that life often feels as if 24 hours is not enough time to get everything done.
You've probably considered hiring an assistant. However, you know that the costs can be high when you hire one locally.
Many entrepreneurs in recent years have learned that they can get the same quality of work by hiring overseas virtual assistants.
They have learned that they can do more and save more simultaneously by hiring virtual assistants from the Philippines.
Hiring full-time employees in AMERICA is costly on your part
You probably already have an idea of how expensive hiring a full-time employee is.
In the US alone, you're looking at $41,014k per year, and that's before you add on healthcare and other government-mandated costs.
Remember, whether you're competing locally with competitors or competing in the global marketplace, you must protect your profit by minimizing employee costs without quality compromise.
Just imagine if you and your local competitor each earn similar revenue, and your current net income is identical as well, and you both have ten local employees.
Now, imagine you had six local employees and four virtual assistants or remote staff in the Philippines, perhaps doing admin, customer support, or something like graphic design and social media management.
You've not suddenly slashed perhaps as much as $100,000 from your payroll costs without reducing the number of staff you have.
This means you get the same productivity, you have the same number of staff, but you have an extra $100,000 or more in net income for the following year.
You have not immediately created for yourself a significant competitive advantage!
Why should you hire Virtual Assistants from the Philippines?
Most of these VAs are classified as independent contractors. So, businesses in the USA, UK, Australia, etc. (and others) do not need to carry the burden of paying overhead expenses like payroll taxes, benefits, and insurance that usually comes when they hire a regular full-time employee in your home country.
The Philippines outsourcing industry has been snowballing in the past couple of years. This can be attributed to several factors, including technological advancement, making it easier to communicate with staff effortlessly.
If you try to search for sites in hiring VAs, you will find that one hotspot for VAs in the Philippines; this is because of the following reasons:
- Virtual assistants in the Philippines can speak excellent English.
- The Philippines has an educated and skilled young labor market. This makes it easy to hire an excellent quality educated VA.
- Due to the cost of living and local market rates, you can hire a fantastic virtual assistant in the Philippines for 1/3 to 1/5 of the cost of hiring a local employee in the USA.
If you'd like to learn more about why the Philippines has English as an official language, as well as other interesting facts, then read the step-by-step guide to hiring virtual assistants in the Philippines.
The Benefits of Hiring Virtual Assistants from the Philippines
1. Cost-Effective Solution for Businesses
One of the most significant advantages of hiring overseas virtual assistants from the Philippines is the cost. The cost of living in the Philippines is much lower compared to Western countries, resulting in lower labor costs.
This means that businesses can save a considerable amount of money by hiring virtual assistants from the Philippines without compromising the quality of work.
2. Highly Skilled Professionals
Virtual assistants from the Philippines are highly skilled and have excellent communication skills. English is widely spoken in the Philippines, and many Filipinos are fluent in the language.
This makes it easy to communicate and collaborate with virtual assistants from the Philippines, which is crucial for remote work. Moreover, Filipinos are known for their strong work ethic, reliability, and attention to detail, making them ideal for virtual assistant roles.
3. Access to a Large Pool of Talent
Another benefit of hiring overseas virtual assistants from the Philippines is the availability of talent. The country has a large pool of talented professionals with a range of skills and expertise.
This means that businesses can easily find virtual assistants with the specific skills they need for their projects or tasks. The availability of talent also means that businesses can scale their operations quickly without worrying about finding the right talent.
4. Increased Productivity and Efficiency
Hiring virtual assistants from the Philippines can help businesses become more productive and efficient. Virtual assistants can handle a variety of tasks such as administrative work, customer service, social media management, and more.
By delegating these tasks to overseas virtual assistants, businesses can free up time to focus on core business activities, which can ultimately lead to increased productivity and profitability.
Hiring the right VA (Virtual Assistant)
You now have a clear idea of the benefits you will gain from hiring virtual assistants. It's now time to learn how to hire the right virtual assistant for you and your business's needs. Hiring a suitable VA is not exactly rocket science. But you will need to take three things into account:
- Hire for the role. Be specific about what you need your VA to do.
- Do you need a virtual assistant or a remote staff? Learn the difference in the Philippines outsourcing guide to doing it right.
- Decide if you want to hire direct on a virtual assistant marketplace such as VirtualStaff.ph or go through an outsourcing provider.
Having a budget for your VA
A common mistake among entrepreneurs hiring VAs in the Philippines is that they often engage the VA with the lowest rate.
It's always best to pay a higher salary to attract better quality staff. Now, don't get wrong, I don't mean that you should pay American rates because that would make hiring an overseas virtual assistant pointless.
What I do mean is that instead of trying to pay $2-$3 per hour, why not offer your Filipino virtual assistant a salary of perhaps $4.00-$6.00 per hour and hire somebody great!
This might still seem low for many people who are used to hiring employees in the USA, but in the Philippines, a $5.00-$8.00 per hour salary will help you attract highly skilled staff.
Ultimately the decision on how much you want to pay your virtual assistant is your decision to make.
How much should you pay when you hire virtual assistants from the Philippines?
How much you should pay your virtual assistant and how much the virtual assistant wants to be paid will ultimately depend on the following things:
- What skills do you require the virtual assistant to have?
- Do you need someone junior, or perhaps someone with vast experience?
As I've mentioned before, a good solid middle-class lifestyle in the Philippines in any major city will cost perhaps 1/3 of what it costs in the USA.
People in the Philippines still need cellphones, Netflix, the internet, gym memberships, school tuition for their kids, a car, and other things that you yourself need.
Just because it's the Philippines, an IPAD, or an HP laptop is not suddenly heavily discounted. The staff you're hiring all need to pay for these things.
When deciding what you want to pay your virtual assistant, take that into account.
The Philippines has millions of people in poverty because it's a developing country. However, the people you want to hire will likely not belong to that group. They will instead belong to the thriving middle class.
That's why it's essential to set expectations. The person you hire will likely have a Samsung or an Ipad, and their family car will be a Ford, Suzuki, Toyota, or something like that.
The ballpark salary expectations for virtual assistants in the Philippines is as follows:
- Entry-level: $2.50-$5.00 per hour
- Intermediate: $4.00-$7.00
- Expert: $5.00-$10.00 per hour or above.
Of course, those are ballpark numbers.
To get the actual rates, why not browse the VirtualStaff.ph Philippines outsourcing marketplace, where we have hundreds of thousands of Filipino virtual assistant profiles listed.
The rates you see there are the actual rates because they are the salary rates that the applicants and jobseekers have set themselves.
Identifying Job Descriptions
If you know what tasks you are ready to outsource or the position you want to hire for, you should create job descriptions that clearly explain to applicants what the job is and what they will be doing.
Use for free the live chat and video calling options on the VirtualStaff.ph outsourcing marketplace, set up interviews, and decide to hire the applicant only when you are comfortable that they are the best fit for you and your business.
Working with your virtual assistant
If you have already pushed through with the decision to hire virtual assistants from the Philippines and start working for you, you will need to work with him just like any other employee.
You also need to train them according to how you want a specific task done and based on your preferences.
Some tasks would need to be explained in detail more, which would entail you providing a detailed email or even a video explaining the said task. Just think about it as you would any other staff or employee induction.
What is important is you keep communication lines open for you to get the expected results and create an excellent working relationship.
A promising outlook for the VA industry
If you know an entrepreneur who currently employs Filipino VAs to work for their company, you will know that the impact it can have on your business could be huge.
More companies are turning to Filipino VAs to help them do repetitive administrative and technical tasks, as well as hiring virtual staff and remote workers in the Philippines in specialist positions such as bookkeeper, accountant, graphic designer, video editor, customer support, as well as a host of other things.
In fact, on VirtualStaff.ph, we have a diverse customer base with businesses using our marketplace ranging from law firms, digital marketing businesses, e-commerce stores, accountancy firms, logistics companies, and dozens, if not hundreds of other industries and niches, who are considering hiring overseas virtual assistants to cut down their business costs.
By hiring Filipino virtual assistants, you can free up your time for these tasks and focus on more critical tasks.
If you enjoyed this article and found it helpful, you might also get value from reading this article that shows you how to have a virtual assistant manage your social media.
