HUSBAND. FATHER. DISCIPLE OF JESUS CHRIST.
ENTREPRENEUR. MEDIOCRE GOLFER.

I’m John Jonas. I live in Utah and I founded OnlineJobs.ph. My life is better because of my Filipino VAs.

I had a normal “job” for 8 months after college and my biggest goal at that time was to be able to quit that job. I managed to quit back in 2004 and worked from home for myself ever since then.

When I first hired someone from the Philippines in January of 2006, I knew I was onto something special. Since then I’ve learned that for most people, life is definitely better with Filipino workers on your team.

Yes, because of my Filipino workers I get to play a lot of golf, spend a lot of time with my wife and kids, and get out backpacking in the middle of the week. I work for about 17 hours a week because of the amazing work they do. However it’s not just better for us; it’s better for them too.

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P.S.
I DON’T DO SOCIAL MEDIA…
MY VA’S DO IT FOR ME.

} My Latest Post

Transitioning your OFS from hourly to salary

by John Jonas | Sep 13, 2021

As we gathered for Sunday dinner the other night, everybody in the family was there. This is my wife’s extended family. And there are like, 20 grandkids from 6 kids, all of whom are married.

The dinner was partly to celebrate my son, Austin, going away to college, which is a BIG change.

It’s a change for everyone because he’s the first of the grandkids to move away and move to college. He’s the oldest grandkid.

Change is hard. Sometimes it’s hard and sometimes it’s just different.

Anna M. emailed me about change. She asks:

“Do you have any tips about transitioning an hourly VA to salary?”

And then she continues:

“I have never paid salary before. I’m not sure what the expectations are. What is included? What are the extras? For example, are holidays included? What about vacation time? What happens if she asks for a few extra days off. How do you manage productivity without knowing the hours as measurement?”

Here’s my answer to this.

The reality is nothing has to change except you’re going to pay her the same amount every month from now on regardless of what happens.

Are holidays included? Yes, holidays are now included.

Vacation time? Well, you can give a specific number of vacation days per year. Or you can do what we do and just say, “You can take whatever days off you want, just let me know ahead of time.” I’ve never had someone take advantage of this.

What if she asks for a few extra days off? Then, fine. Good for you for making her life better.

Measuring productivity without the number of hours as a measurement? Doesn’t seem to be an issue for me. You can usually tell just by the daily report. Like, what’s going on in the report. Has their productivity dropped? Has it increased? Has it changed? You should be able to tell just from what’s going on in your business without needing to say exactly how many hours were worked.

You don’t have to do any tax changes for this. You don’t have to include insurance or SSS or anything like that. They are options but you don’t have to add anything else.

Most (but not all) Filipino workers will prefer a fixed salary over an hourly wage.

John