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offshore staff in the Philippines Archives | Optimal Outsourcing

Apr 09
outsource to the philippines

3 Killer Reasons why Outsource to the Philippines

By Outsourcing

The number of international companies that have started to outsource their business processes to the Philippines continue to rise.

Why?

Unlike other Asian countries like China or India, the Philippines incorporates a culture that’s compatible with the Western world. Once a Spanish colony, the Philippines was ruled by the US from 1899 to 1946 – their influence is still very evident today.

English is the primary language for business and education within the Philippines though the official language is Filipino. With the robust presence of the U.S., the Philippines has developed a government that’s somewhat like the U.S. system. This makes Western corporations more comfortable doing offshoring within the Philippines.

Top Reasons to Outsource to the Philippines

Low Costs

Offshoring in the Philippines may be low-cost compared to other Southeast Asian countries. Salaries within the Philippines are a fraction compared to what the Western world offers their citizenry, with the daily pay set at around $8 per day.

Newly graduated outsourced staff with college degrees from respected universities are employed at around $300 per month. These low cost salaries also apply to some or all business expenses like office rental, utilities, supplies, and third party services.

Philippine outsourcing is usually aiming to be competitively low compared to costs within the U.S. and Europe. You’ll be able to expect to work an offshore staff at around 30-40% of the cost of a domestic team.

 Highly Skilled Workforce

The Philippines incorporates a 92% literacy rating with basic education offered to nearly the entire population. Filipinos are genuinely artistic and naturally expressive people that they naturally gravitate towards fields of learning like the arts, multimedia, freehanded drawing, and animation. There are many schools and universities that offer top-notch education and coaching in these artistic fields.

Because of its traditionally weak local economy, the Philippines has had many tough circumstances providing jobs to the many thousands coming into the manpower annually, inflicting a major portion to migrate overseas.

The Philippines owes its growing BPO business for providing local opportunities to employees that might otherwise need to leave their country.

For these reasons, BPO companies have very little hassle finding extremely qualified employees for their clients.

This is a stark contradiction with its neighbouring countries in the same business as it is a struggle finding candidates and keeping staff which is always a serious problem.

Government Support

The outsourcing industry has become one of the top revenue generators of the country that is why the government totally supports its endeavours.

It’s created special economic zones, established a Philippine Economic Zone Authority, and grants business enterprise and non-fiscal incentives like a 4-year or 8-year tax holiday to BPO players. Even Indian BPO service suppliers have established operations within the Philippines over the years.

IBPAP plays a large role in promoting the country because of the ideal location of alternative and in supporting BPO players.

Since talent is the primary driver of the business, BPAP is collaborating with government agencies to any improve the education system. It’s conjointly implementing industry-specific coaching programs to hone the abilities of Filipino employees and build them up for BPO work.

It’s no wonder the Philippines has gained a new reputation as the most popular BPO destination – a highly skilled workforce and home to a number of the warmest and friendliest folks in Southeast Asia.

We have a team set up ready and willing to assist you realise your offshoring goals.

At Optimal Outsourcing you can trust us to deliver where it counts!

Contact us today!

Feb 19
overseas staff image 1

7 Tips on How to Get the Best Out of Your New Filipino Overseas Staff

By Outsourcing

Getting the best out of your newly outsourced Filipino overseas staff is a lot easier than you think.

You may be wondering what gives Filipinos job satisfaction.

It’s not very different from what satisfies Western employees ‐‐ a sense of belonging, a sense of job gratification, receiving honest feedback and enjoying a tangible reward system are all key components.

When outsourcing, don’t focus on the fact that these are employees working abroad, but rather integrate them into your company culture as if they were in the same country, city and office.

Watch this short video to learn more

Get the best out of your new Overseas Staff

  1. Having an awesome company culture and a great work atmosphere are incredibly important, and the creation of this is largely dependent on management. It’s important to always maintain a positive attitude when dealing with your outsourced employees. An on the ground Filipino manager helps to manage your overseas staff. At Optimal Outsourcing , our on the ground Manager helps you manage your staff.
  1. Good communication with your employees is essential, especially when they are living and working several time zones away. But remember, communication is a two‐way street; listening is just as important as talking.
  1. Take advantage of any opportunity to absorb ideas for improvement your employees may provide. Business specialists have long been telling business owners to embrace, rather than discourage, racial and personal differences among their employees. Different perspectives on a single issue can lead to a uniquely multi‐faceted approach to a topic, which may solve a problem that’s been eating at you for weeks. So, mention from the outset that you’ll respond to any emails your outsourced employees may send, and follow up if they make good on your offer.
  1. Another good way to keep in touch is to create regular team huddles. Connect via Skype or GoToMeeting or, if you’re outsourcing several employees, establish a live virtual chat room where you can have regular 10 or 15‐ minute discussions to clarify your business goals. Keep it light, inspiring and efficient so that employees will want to start every work‐day with gusto. At optimal outsourcing we can help you set up good lines of communication.
  1. Create a regular meeting time that’s convenient for everyone and make attendance mandatory. Many employers use what are called key performance indicators, or KPIs, to keep a running record of employee activity. These are a great way to establish what everyone in your business should be striving toward. For example, in marketing, they might emphasise things like customer turnover and acquisition rates, existing customer satisfaction data and so forth. Utilising up‐to‐date KPIs, and making everyone aware of these metrics, lets you keep track of your business’s progress, as well as your employees’ work as a team.
  1. Offering bonuses is another way to reward your outstanding Filipino offshore staff. Implementing an achievable reward system will encourage virtual employees to strive to meet company goals, help keep them focused and avoid disenchantment. You can offer financial incentives, gifts or other rewards that demonstrate to employees that you value their dedication and hard work. Tying bonuses to job performance reinforces the idea that when the company succeeds, they reap the benefits, which is excellent motivation.
  1. Also most outsourcing businesses provide you with time-logging software. This type of software is a handy tool that requires contracted employees to log in at the start of each shift and log out when finished for the day. Some variations will take a screen shot of an employee’s desktop, typically every 10 minutes at random intervals throughout a shift. It can also monitor mouse clicks and keystrokes. A few may offer an optional web cam hook-up that will snap a photo of a contractor working, or initiate a periodic pop‐up where an employee will report the task they are currently working on. While this software may seem a bit intrusive, it’s an indispensable tool for ensuring that employees are doing the work you’ve requested. Many of the programs will email a report at the end of each day so you can know exactly what your employees have accomplished, and at what speed, as well as how many hours they’ve actually worked.

Also keep in mind when you engage an outsourcing business with a management team in the office in the Philippines as we do at Optimal Outsourcing Corporation, we will help manage your staff in terms of ensuring they are turning up to work on time and are working at their desks.

We provide your staff social interaction through organised office parties and events to help them feel part of a happy office community and a team. At Optimal Outsourcing we understand happy workers work better and stay longer in jobs.

Contact us today at Optimal Outsourcing Australia and allow us to help you achieve your outsourcing needs!

Feb 12

Outsourcing Staff from the Philippines

By Outsourcing

Outsourcing staff from the Philippines is sure fire way to cut on costs while maintaining a high degree of productivity.

For many years large businesses such as insurance companies, banks and airlines have been outsourcing large chunks of their businesses overseas.

Over the last few years with the cost of technology decreasing and becoming more efficient it is now easier and effective for small and medium size businesses (by far the largest employers in Australia) to access the benefits of Outsourcing.

Outsourcing for you could mean:

  1. Living the 15‐hour workweek, whilst travelling the world, watching your kids grow up, pursuing your hobbies fervently.
  2. Continuing to work hard but achieving 3 times as much with your time – more clients, more sales, faster web development. All whilst you’re focusing on the things in your business that matter.
  3. Getting tax deductible trips for every time you visit your staff in the Philippines.
  4. All of the above.

What is Outsourcing?

Outsourcing essentially means delegating tasks to third‐party businesses or virtual workers. Any business of any size can benefit from this type of outsourcing.

Delegating work in this way will help you improve grow your business, lower operational costs and improve the quality of your product.

Outsourcing has transformed the businesses and lives of many ‐ those doing the outsourcing and the workers in the economies in which outsourcing has exploded, traditionally to China and India.

More recently, one destination has taken the outsourcing world by storm – The Philippines. In fact, 2 years ago the Philippines overtook India in the total number of call‐centre employees.

There a several key drivers contributing to the rise of this brilliant nation and we’ll go through those in more detail in a later chapter. With that in mind, let’s take a deeper look at the system and its benefits.

Watch this short video to learn more:

 Why Outsource Staff from the Philippines?

Eager reliable qualified workers for less

Probably the best motivation behind why you ought to outsource. How does having an assistant without having to pay $25 an hour sounds to you?

Outsource to the Philippines and contract an outsourced staff for as little as $8 an hour per person.

Yes, there’s an expression that you get what you paid for. I know you’re worried that the quality will be awful but it is actually not the case. . Filipinos are well educated and value a job for overseas companies. Working for Australian companies is a well paid job in the Philippines.

You need to spend time training to get staff acquainted with the office procedures, and you don’t generally require exceedingly specific abilities, I’m almost certain you’ll discover individuals willing to work for $8/hr.

I realize that you’re most likely thinking that you can just do the tasks yourself and save $8 an hour. But how much is your hour worth?

It Doesn’t it bode well to simply assign the smaller tasks so you can concentrate on the bigger ones?

Cheap reliable Philippine workers can help you grow your business.

Time Difference is not a big deal

I’m certain that a great deal of you are worried about the difference in the time zone –Philippines being located in Southeast Asia.

All things considered, a ton of Filipinos are more than willing to adjust to the time difference. A considerable measure of these outsourced staff worked in call centres and they are very familiar with adjusting to different time zones.

If your business is located in Australia, the time difference is minimal compared to let say the United States.

Good Grasp of the English Language

This is the nation’s primary selling point and this is the motivation behind why the Philippines is the top choice of the top organizations. The Philippines is the second largest English speaking population in the world

The literacy rate in the Philippines in 2012 is around 92 per cent, which is significantly higher than in India, China and Sri Lanka that is why Filipinos can communicate in English rather easily. This implies less occurrences of translations being lost in interpretation.

By outsourcing your smaller tasks to your offshore team, you can achieve a lot more.

Contact us now for details