Yes, absolutely.
Because hiring Filipino online workers still makes a lot of business sense.
I know with Typhoon Yolanda a lot of people have become hesitant about hiring Filipino workers. The recent disaster raised a lot of questions that nobody wants to bring up because they’re afraid of sounding selfish or uncaring. I’m going to absolve you guys of all guilt by putting these questions out there, questions like:
- What if my programmer happens to live in the affected area, what would happen to my business?
- My Filipino designer lost his laptop in the flood, now all the work we did together is lost. What do I do?
- How long will I have to wait for my VA to come back? Or should I even wait?
- How much help should I give to my link builder? And for how long?
- Would it be okay if I hire someone while waiting for my VA to come back?
- I can’t afford to hire more people to cover the work while my designer is away
Let Me Tell You This
Outsourcing, in general, carries certain risks. Even big companies that outsource to countries like China, India, or the Philippines have facilities that get affected by natural calamities. We just don’t hear those stories often in the news because it’s bad press.
The last typhoon did cause a lot of damage to the affected areas but the Philippines does experience around 20 typhoons per year. These typhoons pass through different areas of the country and vary in intensity. Most of the Philippines are prepared for these typhoons; it’s just that the last one was really a super typhoon and it was unlikely that anyone could have gone through that unscathed.
There’s More To The Philippines
I also want to point out that this country has roughly 7,000 islands. There are ways to significantly reduce the risk of having workers that are often affected by natural calamities. Most Filipinos were not in the areas affected by the typhoon. There are a lot of places in the Philippines that aren’t hit by disasters as often as Leyte, for example. There are a lot of places in the Philippines that are better prepared to deal with disasters than Tacloban. Hiring Filipino workers from areas that are less affected and better prepared for natural disasters would help ensure that you get continuous work all year round.
Hiring Filipino workers for charitable reasons is admirable. But that shouldn’t be the only reason for you to hire them. Despite everything you see on the news, the Philippines is still a great place to hire good workers. Filipino workers are still some of the best workers in the world. Don’t let the headlines stop you from finding talented, reliable, and cost-efficient workers for your business. If you want your business to grow, the Philippines IS STILL the place to go.