A month ago I sent a newsletter about  how frustrating it is when Filipinos have multiple jobs.

I got a lot of responses.

This one from Austin was particularly insightful:

… 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 get frustrated. They disappear.

Setting expectations matter.

Next…
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.

Our AI Matching takes this into account.
I also glean this info from looking at their resume.

A personal story about this…
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.

Note: Filipinos have grown the custom of calling you their “client”.  This comes from social media courses teaching people to get multiple “clients”.  It has now become the norm for you to be the “client”.  I hate it.
If you find someone talking about clients, you know they’ve had experience or instruction in working for multiple people. They’re likely juggling multiple jobs. They feel like they’re running an agency rather than having a job with you.

You don’t want to be a client.  You want to be their employer.
But in order to have them treat you as their employer (rather than as a client), you have to treat them as an employer would.  You need to care of them. You need to gain their trust.
If you treat them as a freelancer or as an agency (“Just do your work and leave me alone”) then you’re going to get treated as a client.

Last word on this. Spend more time asking questions the interview. Ask for their resume. Look at their work history. Make your expectations clear in the interview.

“I’m looking for someone to work full-time for me. I don’t want to be one of your clients.”
or
“I want a freelancer who can take care of the tasks I give and I don’t care how you do it or how much time you spend on it.”

Most Filipinos want to be honest. Setting clear expectations helps them be honest.

John