Philippines Outsourcing: Guide to doing it right

Quick Answer

Philippines outsourcing means adding Philippines-based professionals to support functions such as administration, customer service, bookkeeping, marketing, sales support, technology, and back-office operations.

Businesses choose the Philippines because it offers experienced English-speaking staff, significant salary savings, and access to professionals who can work inside Western business systems and processes.

The most successful approach is usually to add dedicated staff who become part of your normal operations, rather than relying on temporary or task-based workers.

VirtualStaff.ph provides a seat-based way to do this. One VirtualStaff Seat lets a business receive qualified staff options, choose one staff member, agree on the salary, onboard them through VirtualStaff.ph, and pay their salary through the platform. The client manages the staff member’s day-to-day work inside its own business.

Philippines Outsourcing at a Glance

• Philippines outsourcing can help businesses increase capacity while reducing staffing costs.
• Common roles include virtual assistants, bookkeepers, accountants, customer support staff, marketers, video editors, and operations support staff.
• Salaries depend on experience, responsibilities, working hours, and specialist skills.
• Full-time staff are usually better for long-term roles and business integration.
• Part-time staff may suit smaller businesses or roles with limited workloads.
• Businesses should focus on quality, onboarding, communication, and staff retention, not salary savings alone.
• A VirtualStaff Seat provides a simple way to add one Philippines-based staff member to your business for $99 per month plus the agreed staff salary.

The "Outsourcing Philippines: Guide to doing it right" will cover everything you need to know. It'll dispel the myths, it'll uncover the BS, and it'll, most importantly, arm you with the knowledge and information to make an informed decision.

While outsourcing to the Philippines will save you a lot of money, regardless of how you do it, like any industry, there is always some cowboys lurking around the corner, often inflating prices for them to cream a bunch of money off the top.

This Philippines outsourcing guide will dispel all of that. It will open your eyes, and you'll be able to see things for what they are.

What Is Philippines Outsourcing?

Philippines outsourcing is the process of using Philippines-based professionals to perform ongoing roles or business functions remotely.

These professionals may work in administration, customer service, bookkeeping, marketing, sales support, technology, creative production, or business operations.

Some companies use traditional outsourcing providers that manage teams on their behalf. Others add dedicated staff directly into their own operations.

For many small and medium-sized businesses, the most practical model is to add dedicated Philippines-based staff who use the company’s systems, follow its processes, report to its managers, and work as part of its extended team.

Outsourcing to the Philippines: A Smart Business Decision?

There are many reasons why outsourcing in the Philippines is an excellent thing to do, and it's certainly not coincidental that gigantic companies such as Goldman Sachs, Barclays Bank, WhatsApp, Disney, Sky, and other business behemoths decide Philippines outsourcing is the way to go.

Here are just a few reasons why it makes excellent business sense to do it:

You'll save a lot of money

I'm sure you already know, but you can save thousands of dollars per year per employee by outsourcing to the Philippines. You're looking at 70-80% savings in salary costs.

Here's an example:

The national average for a customer support rep in the USA is $28,821 per year, and on top of that, if you hire locally, you have benefits and other stuff to add on top, so let's call it $32k per year. And let's face it, this figure is on the conservative side these days.

Now, if you hired a great customer support rep in the Philippines, you could potentially pay between $500-$1000/month and immediately save as much as 70-80% on salary costs.

Salary savings compound!

The savings from outsourcing to the Philippines continue to compound over time, resulting in more net income for your business. 

As you replace more employees with outsourced staff, your savings multiply, leading to increased profitability. For example, if you hire 50 customer support reps in the Philippines instead of hiring 50 local employees in the US, you could save up to $920,000 in expenses over the next 12 months.

If you're new to Philippines outsourcing or want someone to recruit, monitor, and guarantee your virtual staff is working, check out our Full-Service Teams Solution.

English is the official language of the Philippines

The Philippines has two official languages, Filipino (Tagalog), and English. 

English is the joint official language, meaning all road signs, official documents, and even the constitution are written in English. 

This is because the Philippines was a former colony of the USA, and English is the language of instruction in schools and universities.

This makes outsourcing to the Philippines a great option if you need English-speaking staff. All written exams for degrees are in English, and virtually every movie in the Philippines is in English without subtitles.

I'll explain below with some fun facts that will help give you a fast-track course in "why outsource to the Philippines if you need English-speaking staff and want to save a lot of money on salary costs"

What Types of Businesses Outsource to the Philippines?

I could write a list longer than the one Santa receives every Christmas if I get down to the number of companies outsourcing to the Philippines!

You'd be amazed, but pretty much all the leading and most prominent companies in the world outsource to the Philippines.

I'll list some of the largest companies, including some that use VirtualStaff.ph's platform to find and hire their remote staff.

• Google
• Amazon
• AT&T
• Canva (I consulted for them)
• Citi
• Barclays Bank
• WhatsApp
• Goldman Sachs
• Alibaba
• Basecamp
• TransferWise (Wise)
• Skype
• Slack

On top of those industry giants, thousands of innovative small and medium-sized businesses worldwide have experienced the benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines.

I can guarantee that at least one or more of your competitors either uses VirtualStaff.ph to hire staff in the Philippines or they at least use one of our competitors.

You'd be amazed at how many successful Amazon sellers, digital marketing companies, e-commerce stores, SAAS businesses, and even realtors, accountancy firms, and law firms (hiring paralegals) all outsource to the Philippines to boost their profits.

I know this because VirtualStaff.ph has had thousands of businesses use our platform.

How Much Does Philippines Outsourcing Cost?

Philippines outsourcing costs depend on the role, experience level, working hours, responsibilities, industry knowledge, and communication requirements. It should cost you between $500-$1500/month, depending on the type of staff you hire; obviously, someone such as a senior accountant will cost more than a general virtual assistant or customer support rep.

Salary rates 2025 for hiring Virtual Staff in the Philippines
(ball-park full-time rates/160 hours per month)

The average salary ranges listed below are based on our data of Filipino workers registered on the VirtualStaff.ph platform. I've listed some of the most popular positions.

Part-time workers generally get 50% of the above indicative monthly salary rates.

Through a VirtualStaff Seat, businesses tell VirtualStaff.ph what type of staff member they need and receive qualified staff options inside their dashboard. They can then review the options, choose the person they want to work with, and agree on the salary.

Virtual Assistant Versus Virtual Staff: What Is the Difference?

A virtual assistant usually supports general administrative or operational tasks. Virtual staff is a broader term that includes dedicated professionals across accounting, marketing, customer service, sales, creative, technical, and back-office roles.

The important distinction is not simply the job title. It is how the person works inside the business.

Dedicated virtual staff normally have an ongoing role, defined responsibilities, regular working hours, and direct accountability to the client’s management structure. They are not temporary workers completing isolated tasks.

I've added an image below that will clearly show you the differences between a Filipino virtual assistant and a remote worker in the Philippines to make it easy.

If you are looking to hire a virtual assistant, you can also read our article,"Hire a Virtual Assistant - "avoid hiring a bad VA"

Key Things to Remember When You Hire Your First Virtual Staff in the Philippines

If you said, "let's hire a virtual assistant and outsource in the Philippines", I'd be the first to tell you that it's a great decision.

Do it right, and building an offshore team in the Philippines will be one of the best things you do for your business.

Not only will you save thousands of dollars and dramatically increase profits through cost reduction, but you'll also see a massive increase in overall output simply because you can afford to add more manpower without incurring additional costs.

If you're looking to hire a virtual assistant, I'd suggest reading the article "Hire Virtual Assistants: The Ultimate Short Guide".

Hiring Part-Time vs Full-Time Staff: The Philippines Outsourcing Dilemma

As a business owner looking to outsource to the Philippines, you have the choice to hire part-time or full-time virtual staff.

Which option is best depends on what you're looking to achieve with your outsourcing goals; all the options have advantages and disadvantages.

Each option ultimately has its place as part of your overall outsourcing strategy. I'll be breaking it down for you and explaining under which circumstances each option is best for what you might need.

Hiring part-time virtual staff:

There are several types of businesses and entrepreneurs who'll benefit from hiring part-time virtual staff instead of full-time, and it's not just the side hustler who can benefit from having a part-time virtual assistant.

The side hustler entrepreneur

Maybe you have a 9-5 job, and you're trying to build your business on the side so that eventually, you can earn enough money to quit your job and get back to controlling what you make and what you do with your time.

Most commonly, but not limited to, side hustles might include running an e-commerce start-up, Amazon FBA business, and digital marketing services. Content websites, or even something such as affiliate marketing.

If you're working full-time in a regular job, it can be overwhelming to build your side business simultaneously. And that's why outsourcing to the Philippines and hiring a part-time virtual assistant might be an excellent idea for you.

Advantages

1. You can leverage time, without giving up your regular job salary.
2. You can hire somebody with skills you don't have. For example, imagine you're starting a YouTube channel, or a content marketing website. You could hire a part-time video editor/graphic designer to handle all of that for you.
3. You reduce your cost commitment.

Disadvantages

1. Whenever you hire someone part-time, you do so with the expectation that they are also working another job, or perhaps studying in further education. This can, of course, create divided focus, or potentially affect how long the staff stays with you.
   
2. Hiring part-time staff is not the best thing to do if you're looking to build a long-term virtual team. I always find that it's significantly more effective if you can afford just to hire people full-time. You can focus on creating a great team and promoting your company culture.
   
   

Hiring full-time virtual staff in the Philippines:

If you can afford to, I highly recommend primarily hiring full-time virtual staff. It's the most effective way to build an outsourced team in the Philippines.

The business that will benefit most from hiring full-time is the business that is looking at this from a long-term perspective.

When I started outsourcing to the Philippines, I already had an established business. I wanted to build an outsourced team in the Philippines to save money without compromising quality. This meant more profit due to reduced costs.

From day 1, I was looking at outsourcing with a long-term goal. I knew that for it to work big time and get me the kind of compounded savings that I wanted to have, I had to look at how I could build a viable virtual team that would be with me in years to come.

Who will benefit from having full-time virtual assistants or remote staff in the Philippines?

• Established businesses looking to replace local employees to dramatically reduce costs, by hiring virtual staff in the Philippines. Remember, the more staff you replace, the more you save. It's just like compound interest... except its compound savings! (As long as you replace local employees with equally skilled staff.)
  
• Realtors/Mortgage Brokers (other single-person self-employed professions): By hiring a full-time real estate virtual assistant, you can outsource all the grunt work. You can have them take over your admin, social media, follow-ups, basic graphics, and all the other stuff you'd be better off not doing!
  
• Online businesses: Including e-commerce, FBA, digital agencies, content creators, YouTubers, and other online businesses. You could hire anyone from a graphic designer, social media marketer, content writer, virtual assistant, admin/support, customer service, WordPress designer, or bookkeeper. The possibilities are limitless.
  

Those are just examples of businesses that will usually benefit more by hiring full-time virtual staff. Of course, it's not limited only to those examples, and if I did not list your specific industry or type of business, don't worry.

Advantages

1. You can directly replace full-time local employees with virtual staff in the Philippines and immediately benefit from increased profits due to a huge decrease in cost.
   
2. Hiring full-time virtual staff lets you assimilate them into your company culture more effectively.
   
3. It creates more leverage. By this, I mean if someone has two-three part-time jobs, they might not necessarily put the effort in that someone with one full-time job will. It's perfect for the long term. The last thing you want is to churn and burn staff, which takes time and energy.

Disadvantage

1. If you're only a start-up one-person operation, and you currently only have a business as a side hustle alongside a 9-5 job, the cost of hiring full-time might be too much.

Even though you're saving a fortune compared to hiring locally, if your side hustle only makes you $1k-$2k per month, it would probably not make sense to hire someone full-time, even if that virtual staff only costs you $500-$600 per month.

In this case, I'd advise you to look to start by hiring someone part-time probably, that way, you're not overstretching, while at the same time, you can still outsource to someone to do the stuff you hate doing or the stuff that you are not very good at.

My overall advice on part-time and full-time staff?

I believe that in most cases, if you can afford to, always hire full-time virtual staff. It's the best way to build a long-term team and get the compounded savings you're looking for.

However, I would tell you to incorporate part-time virtual staff into your outsourcing strategy if budget is an issue.

Outsourcing to the Philippines vs Outsourcing to Latin America

First of all, let me say that I don't personally have experience outsourcing to Latin America. My background is in Philippines outsourcing; I've built businesses by leveraging outsourced staff in the Philippines.

However, as I said earlier, the hybrid solution works best for many businesses. Hire locally and combine it with outsourced staff in the Philippines.

So why did I mention outsourcing to Latin America? Simply because I assume it would be a good option if you're looking to hire Spanish-speaking staff.

Despite the Philippines being a Spanish colony from 1521 to 1898, the USA took over the Philippines until the 1940s. During that time, Filipino's lost much of the Spanish language and cultural influence in the Philippines.

The Philippines is unique in being one, if not the only former Spanish colony that does not have Spanish as an official language.

So,  I'm just throwing out the Latin America thing as a possible idea for those who also need Spanish-speaking staff.

However, suppose you want English-speaking virtual staff. In that case, outsourcing to the Philippines is a better idea, as English is one of the official languages of the Philippines, unlike countries in Latin America, such as Colombia and Mexico, etc.

Exploring Your Options for Building a Virtual Team in the Philippines

When outsourcing to the Philippines, you have several options to consider.

However, if you want to bypass the middleman and freelance platforms and deal directly with talented Filipino professionals, creating an employer account on VirtualStaff.ph is the way to go.

As a professional enterprise service provider, VirtualStaff.ph offers all the benefits of other outsourcing providers at more affordable rates.

We can offer the most cost-effective enterprise service in the Philippines because we are the country's leading remote team building platform.

By creating an employer account on VirtualStaff.ph, you can save money, find top-quality talent, and completely control your virtual team.

Our platform’s intuitive interface makes it simple to create roles with the VirtualStaff Seat, hire pre-vetted talent, and manage your remote staff - all in one place.

Whether you're looking for a single virtual assistant or an entire team of experts, VirtualStaff.ph can help you build the perfect virtual team for your business needs.

VirtualStaff.ph: Find, Hire, and Build Your Team

VirtualStaff.ph is a seat-based staffing platform that helps businesses add professional offshore staff from the Philippines.

One VirtualStaff Seat allows a business to onboard one staff member.

The process works as follows:

1. Activate a VirtualStaff Seat.
2. Tell VirtualStaff.ph what type of staff member you need.
3. Receive qualified staff options inside your dashboard.
4. Review the options and choose the staff member you want.
5. Agree on the salary.
6. Onboard the staff member through VirtualStaff.ph.
7. Pay the staff salary through the platform.
8. Manage the staff member’s daily work inside your own business.

A VirtualStaff Seat costs $99 per month plus the agreed staff salary. VirtualStaff.ph earns the seat fee, while the staff salary is passed directly to the staff member.

Your staff member works inside your normal operations, systems, workflows, and management structure. VirtualStaff.ph does not manage projects or run the person’s day-to-day work for you.

VirtualStaff.ph: The Full-Service Teams Solution

Are you feeling overwhelmed with the idea of building your virtual team in the Philippines? 

Don't worry. Not everyone wants to go down the standard route. Some businesses want the assurance and support of a professional provider to take care of everything for them.

That's where our Full-Service Teams solution comes in.

Our team of experts is dedicated to helping you build your dream team in the Philippines without the hassle and stress of doing it all alone. 

With our Full-Service Teams solution, you can relax while we take care of everything, from sourcing top talent to handling staff payments and admin.

So, if you're ready to take your business to the next level, I highly recommend our Full-Service Teams solution. Let us help you build a successful virtual team in the Philippines to help your business thrive.

Frequently Asked Questions

1. What are the benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines?

Outsourcing to the Philippines offers significant cost savings, with businesses saving up to 70-80% on employee salaries compared to hiring locally. The country also has a large pool of highly skilled, English-speaking professionals, making it an attractive destination for outsourcing across various industries.

2. How much does it cost to outsource in the Philippines?

The cost to outsource in the Philippines varies depending on the role, but generally, salaries range from $500 to $1500 per month. For example, hiring a general virtual assistant might cost around $500/month, while more specialized roles, like an operations manager, can cost up to $1500/month.

3. What types of businesses outsource to the Philippines?

Philippines outsourcing is popular among a wide range of industries, including tech companies like Google and Amazon, financial services like Barclays, and startups in e-commerce, digital marketing, and more. Many businesses, both large and small, use Philippines outsourcing companies to reduce costs and access skilled labor.

4. What should I consider when hiring virtual staff in the Philippines?

When hiring virtual staff in the Philippines, it's important to consider factors like salary expectations, scope of the role, and the need for full-time versus part-time positions. Clear communication, proper onboarding, and understanding the local work culture can also help ensure a successful partnership.

5. How does outsourcing to the Philippines compare with outsourcing to Latin America?

Outsourcing to the Philippines tends to offer greater cost savings, especially in terms of labor costs. Additionally, the Philippines' proficiency in English and its cultural similarities with Western countries make it a more attractive option for many businesses compared to outsourcing in Latin America.

6. Are part-time virtual staff a good option for businesses outsourcing to the Philippines?

Part-time virtual staff can be a cost-effective solution for businesses with fluctuating workloads or small-scale operations. However, full-time staff may offer more stability and long-term benefits, especially for businesses looking to scale and build a cohesive team over time.

7. How do I choose the right Philippines outsourcing company?

When selecting a Philippines outsourcing company, consider their track record, service offerings, and client reviews. Look for a reputable remote team building platforms like VirtualStaff.ph, with experience in your industry and one that provides support in recruitment and ongoing staff management to ensure a seamless outsourcing experience.