Paying VAs….lots of answers.
I’m warning you ahead of time: this is going to long.
To start, I want to reference a previous newsletter I wrote, discussing the initial cost of hiring a Filipino virtual assistant.
The TLDR of that one is:
– You can cancel your subscription to Onlinejobs.ph once you’ve hired your VA. Your Pro ($69/month) or Premium ($99/month) subscription provides access to the database. It’s not your VA’s salary.
– Your VA’s salary depends on their skill level and experience.
– The 13th month is optional.
How much should you pay your VA?
We get asked about salaries a lot, and we often refer them to our comprehensive salary guide.
The table shows the most common skills that business owners look for in our database in the first column. The rest illustrates the fair and expected salary for these skills, ranging from inexperienced workers to experts, based on experience.
We did it this way to give you the option to hire based on the skills and experience level you want for your VA. If you can’t find someone with the exact skills you want, you can use the skill that’s most similar as a starting point for salaries.
Why is it organized according to experience? Because not everybody wants a very experienced worker.
I know many of you prefer inexperienced workers because they’re easier to train, cheaper, and they can grow with your business. Young and hungry.
Those with a few years of experience wages aren’t going to be as low as newbies, but they’ll be more affordable than experts. It’s a good middle ground for people who want experienced workers but don’t have the budget to pay premium rates.
Within the salary column, we also show the salaries as a range. This is to provide you with some wiggle room for negotiation and to account for the cost of living differences within the Philippines.
Essentially, it doesn’t matter where you hire. It’s more expensive for Filipinos to live in large urban cities, so a newbie in Manila may expect a higher starting salary compared to someone from a rural area. They will feel the difference when they get their salary in Philippine pesos. But when you pay in USD, there’s not much of a difference.
This is also the reason why we don’t update this every year. The salary in pesos may increase, but when converted to USD, there’s practically no change. We will be updating it this year because there has been a significant change; however, the rates still apply for now.
How often do you need to pay your Filipino VA?
For the first couple of months, I recommend paying weekly for the following reasons:
To build trust. Receiving a weekly salary reassures them that you’re not going to run out on them.
To let them focus on work. They’d be less likely to worry if they knew they could start paying off their bills soon after they were hired.
Filipinos are scared of doing a bunch of work and then getting scammed and not getting paid. Pay weekly (at the end of the week) to assure them. Never pre-pay for work.
After two months, you can shift the payments to every two weeks or every month, whichever best suits you. But if you’re more comfortable with weekly payments, you can keep doing this for as long as you want.
Benefits?
Benefits are optional, BUT if there’s one benefit that you should be giving, it’s the 13th month.
When a Filipino VA becomes eligible for the 13th month, it is up to you. For us at Onlinejobs.ph, once they start working for us, they can expect a 13th month come December.
Computing for the 13th month is easy. It doesn’t matter if they were part-time or full-time, paid hourly, worked flexible hours, or if they’re seasonal workers. Just add up how much you paid them for the year, then divide by 12, that’s their 13th month. That’s the only way to do it.
(Total salary for the year) / 12 = 13th month
We add all benefits payments to their normal salary payment.
More: OnlineJobs.ph/benefits
How to pay?
Lastly, what do you use to pay your Filipino VA: EasyPay.
It’s fast. It’s easy. Fewer fees and offers your VA favorable exchange rates.
You could also use wise.com or PayPal (PayPal as a last resort…their fees are outrageous).
Questions?
John