I got a LOT of responses in my email about how frustrating it is when Filipinos have multiple jobs.
Feedback, insight…
Like this one sent by Austin.
Thanks for the email content. I’d counter argue that it is an issue of not having clear goals for your employees. If an employee is aware of expectations and hits expectations or even exceeds expectations in half the time it should not matter. The issue is with hourly work and unclear or not communicated expectations. If they can hold multiple clients and over deliver for all them then that’s great. They are happy and fulfilled because they are well compensated. If your set on them working for just you than your goals need to have financial incentives tied with them. This way of managing makes everyone happy. It’s a win win. If you have an issue with employee turnover than you’re either not compensating enough, not communicating your expectations and timeline for them to be met, or you don’t have a good work environment. Another tip would be to ask workers not how many clients they have but how long do they generally work with clients. A red flag is when they work with employers for weeks or even months. I like to look for years with the same client or clients which shows that both employee and employer was happy over the long term.
Hope this perspective helps someone in your community.
Kind regards,
Austin
Yes, Austin. This does help.
– Clear expectations – they know how high the bar is.
– Unclear expectations – they don’t know what to aim for so they aim low.
You’ll get frustrated. They’ll disappear.
Last thing from Austin:
Another tip would be to ask workers not how many clients they have but how long do they generally work with clients. A red flag is when they work with employers for weeks or even months. I like to look for years with the same client or clients which shows that both employee and employer was happy over the long term.
Having a long list of clients IS a red flag, especially if they’re all short-term. This means that most of their employers don’t want to keep them or hire them again.
It’s not necessarily the case with purely freelance (hourly and gig-work) workers. It also kind of depends on the work that they do. This is where you’ll need to do more work with your hiring process to confirm.
In interviewing recently, I had someone I liked. Her resume said something about being a full-time dentist so I asked. Turns out, yes, she’s a full-time dentist and writing content on the side. I asked about other clients. She had 2 others. Both part-time.
Uhh…no thanks. Glad I asked.
John