Outsourcing to the Philippines and working with virtual assistants is easy. I mean, it's not rocket science.
So... why do some people seem to think that working with virtual assistants doesn't work?
Or, to put it more bluntly. Why do some people SUCK hiring and working with Filipino virtual assistants while others quite clearly thrive?
Well, my team and I have analyzed this based on thousands of employers who've used VirtualStaff.ph to find and hire remote workers in the Philippines, and we've come up with the EXACT reason why some people fail.
Save a lot of money, yes! Pay too little and compromise quality to save that extra $1-$2 per hour, then you've failed before you started!
If you pay too little, then it's pretty simple. You get TERRIBLE candidates who can't do the job you need them to do.
Here's the thing.
You're outsourcing to the Philippines to save money.
And that's the aim here. You get a multi-skilled virtual assistant who can do a bunch of stuff for your business.
But I say but because there is a BIG in this sentence.
You MUST pay the going rate for the Philippines and for the job you want to hire for!
It's as simple as that.
If you try to pay someone $2.00 to $3.00 per hour to do a job like graphic design, and you expect them to have several years of experience under their belt, then much of the time, you'll end up with somebody who's one of these two things:
- Mediocre and not up to the job.
- They will accept the job, but they have no security working with you because the pay is tiny. They will actively be looking for new jobs.
Just think about it for a minute.
If you're paying somebody $2.00 per hour ($320 per month), and they live almost hand to mouth, they have a kid or a sibling to help support. Are they going to risk everything when you could quite easily terminate their job without notice?
To give you some perspective. Yes, you have poverty in the Philippines, and yes, you have some people getting paid very little. However, the people you are aiming to hire are not those people.
You are looking to hire degree-educated, intelligent, experienced virtual assistants who are likely middle-class people.
This means that, like you, they also have a car, a mortgage, food expenses, NetFlix, and other things that people have in countries such as the USA.
The cost of living is a lot cheaper in the Philippines. It's about 1/4 to 1/3 of the cost of living in most states in the United States. This means that you should aim to pay your virtual assistant about 1/4 to 1/3 of what the equivalent local employee would cost you in your home state.
The Way You Get Past This?
You pay the REAL salary rates. As of the time of this article, it's around $3.50 to $6.50 per hour for a good quality intermediate virtual assistant.
Of course, salary varies depending on competence and experience. However, that's the average rate you should be looking to pay to hire VAs that can easily replace local employees in your home country. I'd suggest never going below $4.00 per hour.
Get the EXACT salary rates below.
Download the ultimate salary guide here
