If you are a business owner who wants to expand your company, you may build a team offshore.
Quite frankly, It is one of the best cost-saving methods for companies to grow their business and increase their profitability.
In recent years, "offshoring" and "outsourcing" have been used interchangeably when people consider hiring staff and building a team in another country.
The definition of offshoring:
"Offshoring is the practice of basing some of a company's processes or services overseas, so as to take advantage of lower costs."
Oxford Dictionary.
What you'll achieve by offshoring to the Philippines
Companies that adopt offshore will certainly profit both in the short and long term. Offshoring will allow you as a business owner to achieve one, if not all, of the following things:
- Substantial cost savings: By offshoring to the Philippines, you can expect to save as much as 70% on staff costs. The beauty of offshoring and outsourcing is that the more people you hire, the more the cost savings compound.
- Immediate increase in profit: When you cut costs by thousands, if not tens of thousands of dollars per month - without compromising the quality of your product and service, then you'll immediately see a significant increase in profits due to a massive reduction in costs.
- Better customer service: You can beef up your manpower without spending the type of money that you'd have to pay to hire employees locally. This will translate into better product delivery and an increase in your customer satisfaction levels.
- Expand your business: Bring in skilled staff and focus on the growth of your business. This is perfect for companies in the growth stage.
Why Offshore to the Philippines?
The Philippines is a country that boasts a talent pool of millions of skilled English-speaking staff. It's also a country geared towards outsourcing and offshoring due to many factors. In fact, you can hire virtual assistants for 80% less than what it would cost in the USA.
Here are the benefits of offshoring to the Philippines:
- You'll immediately save as much as 70% on salary costs. In fact, you'll save a lot more if you think of the other staff-related costs such as maternity, benefits, and other such stuff that you incur by hiring local employees in the USA, Canada, UK, etc.
- English speaking: Yes, the Philippines' joint official language is English. You can learn more about this in the following article, the advantages of outsourcing to the Philippines.
- Young, educated, and motivated workforce. You're going to find and hire college-educated staff in the Philippines.
I suggest you also read How to Outsource to the Philippines?
How to Build Your Team in the Philippines?
Make a plan: Know what you want to achieve:
Going offshore is a difficult decision for a company. Particularly for small and medium-sized businesses who are entirely new to outsourcing.
I know the feeling; I've been there myself when I first entertained the idea of offshoring to the Philippines over a decade ago.
My advice is to assess your business situation, what precisely you want to achieve in offshoring, and work out the specific job roles you want to fill.
For example, do you want to hire customer support staff? Or perhaps accountants or graphic designers? Or maybe you're a one-person team, and you want to hire a virtual assistant.
You will also want to create thoughts regarding your business name before proceeding to the following stage.
You have three options for offshoring to the Philippines:
Option 1: Register a company
Setting up an offshoring company in the Philippines involves registering the firm with all applicable government authorities, including the Philippine Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), the Department of Trade and Industry (DTI), the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), and the Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA).
In addition to this, you will also need an office address, and a contract of lease, before you can apply for your local business permit with the city Mayors office. After getting the permit, you also need what we call a "barangay clearance".
Asides from the above, you'd need to also enroll employees in SSS, Philhealth, and PagiBIG and ensure compliance is met in regards to special and nonspecial holiday pay, 13th-month salary, employment rights, and things such as maternity leave.
Philippine corporations may be registered as a foreign branch, a foreign representative office, a domestic corporation with 100 percent foreign ownership, a domestic corporation with 60/40 foreign ownership, a partnership, or a sole proprietorship.
Simply put, before getting started with hiring employees. You'll need a local barangay clearance, business address, city mayor's business permit, as well as other things that would involve working with a local lawyer.
Option 2: Philippines Outsourcing Marketplace
You can immediately outsource to the Philippines and build your offshore team by signing up for free on the Virtual Staff Philippines outsourcing marketplace. VirtualStaff.ph is one of the best offshoring companies in the Philippines.
It's as simple as signing up for an employer account, posting jobs, and then interviewing and hiring the applicants that best suit what you need.
With this approach, you do not need to worry about permits or anything else, as you are not legally responsible for the staff as they are not employees in the technical sense.
Option 3: Philippines Offshore Staff Provider
There are some great offshore staffing providers in the Philippines. Here at VirtuatStaff.ph, we have an enterprise service that caters to clients who are looking for the help of a professional outsourcing provider.
Hire the best talent
Regardless of which of the three options above you decide is best for your business, the one thing you must do is hire the best staff.
Yes, save a lot of money by offshoring to the Philippines, but don't push it so much that you end up hiring mediocre staff, and the quality gets compromised.
One of the advantages of hiring remote workers on our Philippines outsourcing marketplace is that you can directly communicate with job seekers and applicants.
You can use our free messaging, audio, and video communication tools to immediately get a good feel for whether an applicant is the right fit for what you need.
If, of course, you want the help of experts, then using our enterprise service and getting the help of our client success managers and talent acquisition team will be of enormous value to you.
You will be successful with offshoring to the Philippines if you replace local employees with equally skilled lower cost staff - Without compromising quality.
Michael Brodie - Founder of VirtualStaff.ph - "The Philippines outsourcing marketplace".
Why VirtualStaff.ph is the best offshoring company in the Philippines?
Among the many offshoring companies in the country, VirtualStaff.ph shines as the absolute best! Below are some reasons why:
1. Extensive Talent Pool
VirtualStaff.ph is a treasure trove of talent! We have got a fantastic mix of highly skilled professionals from various fields. Whether you need a virtual assistant, a customer support whiz, a web developer, or a digital marketing guru, we've got you covered. We handpick the crème de la crème through a rigorous selection process, ensuring you get nothing but the best.
2. Matchmaking and Expertise
VirtualStaff.ph takes matchmaking to a whole new level! We've got a unique system that finds you the perfect match based on your specific requirements, making us one of the best offshoring companies in the Philippines. We understand that finding the right person isn't just about skills but also cultural compatibility.
So, we take the time to understand your needs and pair you up with professionals who not only have the required skill set but also understand your industry. It's like having a secret weapon to streamline your operations and drive growth!
3. Quality Assurance
When it comes to quality, VirtualStaff.ph doesn't mess around. We have a stringent quality assurance process in place. We conduct thorough background checks, skills assessments, and interviews to ensure we select only the most competent professionals. With VirtualStaff.ph, you can rest easy knowing that you're working with reliable and highly skilled individuals who will contribute significantly to your business's success.
4. Cost-effectiveness
By operating in the Philippines, where labor costs are lower compared to other countries, we pass on the cost advantage to you. Imagine getting access to top-notch professionals at a fraction of the cost you would pay locally. It's a game-changer! You can optimize your resources, invest in growth, and stay competitive in the global market.
5. Flexible Engagement Models
At VirtualStaff.ph, we understand that one size doesn't fit all. We offer flexible engagement models to meet your unique business needs. Whether you need full-time, part-time, or project-based staffing solutions, we've got you covered.
This flexibility allows you to scale your operations efficiently, adapt to changing requirements, and maintain complete control over your offshore team. It's all about making things work for you, as an offshoring company in the Philippines!
Develop your team culture
The latest 2021 worldwide study indicates that an employee's team is critical to their wellness, engagement, and overall experience. However, team dynamics frequently rank last on a company's priority list for enhancing its workplace culture.
Indeed, only 26% of staff believe their team functions cohesively. When an organization has a strong culture, staff understand how top management expects them to respond to every circumstance.
When it comes to having outsourced staff, my advice is to make sure they feel like part of your team and fully understand the business vision and goals.
I do this with my team at VirtualStaff.ph, I bring them along on the journey to see the big picture of our vision for the brand.
Our goal is to help make outsourcing to the Philippines easy for everyone, and we achieve that goal by providing customers with a safe and secure marketplace to find and hire staff.
The key is to share what you are looking to achieve as a company with your staff. I do this with all of my staff, whether it's a customer support agent, web developer, bookkeeper, or any other position within my company.
Manage Your Team
Having offshore staff is, of course, highly advantageous because it saves you both time and money, which are the two most valuable resources in the world.
Knowing how to handle it properly is critical since it plays a significant role in obtaining the desired result. Here are some points on how you can manage your offshore team effectively:
- Make your team understand your vision
- Ensure consistent time daily communication with the members
- Have weekly video calls with your staff or team leaders. (depending on the size of your offshore team).
- Assign accountability if you require leadership roles.
- Use management software.
- Motivate your team for better performance.
- Constant meetings for follow-ups, updates, reports, and action plans.
- Encourage small talks and ice breakers.
- Recognize team and individual achievements and give verbal praise and bonuses when appropriate
- Define and agree on the key performance metrics or KPIs.
- Invest in training and development by upskilling staff.
Improve Your Team Process
Offshoring begins with straightforward, standardized, quantifiable, and manual procedures that yield immediate and significant results.
That might sound complicated. In simple terms, I mean putting the right system and process in place to make sure everything goes smoothly.
This is especially important to businesses looking to replace existing employees with outsourced staff in the Philippines.
You can also check some of our FREE Philippine outsourcing resources:
- Philippines outsourcing guide to doing it right
- Step by step guide to hiring a virtual assistant
- Everything you need to know before hiring a Real Estate Virtual Assistant
- How to work with a virtual assistant to manage your social media
- Effective Methods to outsourcing to the Philippines
Conclusion
The cost reductions associated with outsourcing the proper business operations are too attractive to overlook, much more so in today's competitive global economy.
The fact is, if you are not outsourcing, then there is a high chance your competition either is or will be at some point in the future.
I know from my own experience, as well as the thousands of businesses that use our outsourcing marketplace, that businesses can and often will achieve dramatic increases in operating efficiency and productivity, topped off with the enormous savings in salary costs, which ultimately get added as extra profit for your business!
