I got this email from Daniel asking for more information about PTO and benefits. He has a growing team of Online Filipino Specialists. He asked me these questions because he wanted to make sure that the benefits were fair for everybody involved.
I will share his questions and my answers with you in case you guys have the same concerns.
1. PhliHealth, SSS, and Pag-Ibig Fund are all government programs. If the employee is paying for these, is it paid on a monthly basis? Do you, in-turn, reimburse the employee on a monthly basis? Is the reimbursed amount just for them or their dependents?
– The gov’t programs (PhilHealth, SSS, Pag-Ibig) are paid every quarter so we also reimburse them quarterly. The reimbursed amount is just for them. Only children and parents older than 65 years old can be declared as dependents, and Filipinos don’t pay more for them. It’s already included in their premiums.
2. Private HMO plans seem to be more popular as well. But it seems these are paid annually for the most part. Do you require your employee to pay for an annual premium first and then reimburse them for the whole year’s premium at once? Is there any requirement for that to be re-paid if they quit in a certain timeframe?
– Yes, I require them to pay the annual premium first and then reimburse them. If they quit or are let go within the year, I don’t ask them to re-pay it. This very rarely happens, like once or twice, so it’s not really a big problem for me.
3. Lastly, for PTO: We are offering 10 days vacation and 5 days sick time. We have this set up on an accrual basis similar to how we treat our US staff. But I have heard some feedback that in the Philippines, it is less common to require the contractors to accrue the PTO versus simply offering it every year and they can use it on whatever schedule they need it. Thoughts on this?
– Yes, accrual isn’t that common in the Philippines. But if it’s a system that you’re comfortable with, you can still use it because your Filipino workers will adapt to it. Having a job that offers any PTO means more to your OFS than how it’s implemented.
Want to learn more about benefits for your OFS?
OnlineJobs.ph/benefits
John