The Philippines is one of the original destinations for talent outsourcing and continues to lead the charge. In 2023, the Philippine business process outsourcing (BPO) market hit US $32.5 billion. Despite a global recession and the rapid emergence of AI and automation tools, the country still expects ongoing growth in 2024.
The trend is not surprising, considering the benefits, including cost savings and access to high-quality, skilled workers. This is particularly true for Australian businesses as the Phillippines is in a similar time zone, facilitating communication and collaboration with the country’s English-proficient workers.
Tens of thousands of Australian businesses are outsourcing to the Philippines, engaging remote workers in roles like customer service, marketing, finance, software development, and more. But how are they navigating the challenges of global hiring, such as legal compliance, talent screening, and performance management?
This guide introduces the intricacies of hiring in the Philippines as an Australian company and how you can tap into this island country’s best talent.
What Are the Advantages of Outsourcing to the Philippines?
There are numerous benefits to outsourcing work to the Philippines. If your business is thinking of tapping into the global talent pool, look toward the Philippines for the following reasons.
Cost Benefits
Businesses in Australia stand to save about 70% in salary-related costs when outsourcing certain roles to the Philippines. Currently, the minimum wage in Manila (the country’s capital) is about AU $17 per day, and these rates are lower in other regions. By comparison, the national minimum wage in Australia is AU $23.23 per hour.
The salaries for skilled workers will be higher than the minimum and vary significantly. For example, for an experienced customer service representative, you can expect to pay about AU $600 per month as a base salary. However, in any case, the cost of outsourcing to the Philippines will be much lower than hiring within Australia.
Skilled Talent Pool
In addition to cost savings, Australian employers can tap into a skilled talent pool based in this island nation. Despite the dip in many sectors, Australia continues to face persistent skills shortages.
If your business needs help to fill specific roles, particularly in the IT and web development sectors, then the Philippines might be the perfect outsourcing destination.
Cultural Affinity
The Philippines launched its outsourcing industry as early as 1992. Local professionals have an intricate understanding and extensive knowledge of working with global companies. As such, onboarding remote workers from the Philippines will be a seamless process, and they will easily integrate into your team. Plus, most professionals are already fluent in English, with the Philippines ranking #20 on the global English Language Proficiency Index. This will further reduce language and cooperation barriers.
Convenient Time Zone
Another advantage to remote collaboration with a remote team based in the Philippines is the matching time zone with Australia. The Philippines is in the same time zone as Perth and only a few hours behind Sydney and Melbourne. The time zone overlap will facilitate synchronous communication between your team based in Australia and your Philippine staff.
Common Types of Services Outsourced to the Philippines
As mentioned, the Philippines is home to abundant skilled talent. Here are some of the roles you can outsource to the Philippines.
Customer Support Services
The Philippines has positioned itself as a leader in customer support outsourcing. There are currently roughly 1.3 million call center employees in the Philippines. With a high English proficiency and a positive attitude, Philippine staff make a great addition to your customer care team.
IT and Software Development
IT and web development services represent another critical segment of the Philippines outsourcing market. Currently, the tech industry in the country employs 1.57 million people, which is projected to grow.
Whether you are looking for simple tech support or to outsource entire development projects, the Philippines is an ideal outsourcing destination.
Administrative Tasks
Philippine virtual assistants are very competitive in the global market. They are known for their efficiency and excellent work ethic in delivering a range of tasks, such as data entry, human resources management, and payroll processing.
Marketing
Another important outsourcing role in the Philippines is marketing. Philippine workers bring creativity and a positive attitude, essential for social media brand management and marketing campaigns. You can also engage remote workers from the Philippines for simple content writing tasks, website management, and more.
Financial Services
Working through accounting and financial statements can be tedious, time-consuming, and expensive. Outsourcing these tasks to the Philippines can free up your local staff’s time to focus on strategic business. Meanwhile, your remote team in the Philippines will do a great job of these detail-oriented tasks.
How to Start Outsourcing to the Philippines: A Step-by-Step Guide
Define Your Outsourcing Objectives
Before hiring remote workers in the Philippines, define your objectives. Decide which roles you’d like to fill through outsourcing, the type of support your organisation needs, and how long these engagements will be.
For example, you may need to contract a temporary team to build and launch a website as a one-off project. Or, you might want to set up a long-term relationship with customer service staff to support your clients in the long run.
Whatever your goals, make sure that you have a plan and clear goals before diving into global outsourcing.
Select the Perfect BPO in the Philippines
While it’s not impossible to hire in the Philippines independently, it will be much easier with a trusted partner. You’ll need to adhere to different legal requirements to hire beyond Australian borders.
Consider that you’ll need to follow the labour laws of the Philippines to outsource workers. This means understanding local contracting structures, minimum wage laws, bonuses and employee benefits, and termination and offboarding procedures.
Instead, choose to work with a trusted partner who can take care of the legal aspects of the process so you can focus on integrating your new Philippine staff within your Australia-based team. When selecting a vendor, ensure they have a proven track record of working in the Philippines and can offer scalable solutions that fit your short and long-term outsourcing objectives.
Establish Communication Protocols
Once you’re ready to hire Philippine talent, you’ll need to set up processes for effective communication and collaboration. This includes working with your outsourcing partner and your local staff in the Philippines.
Ideally, your Philippines outsourcing vendor will guide you through this process with tips and tricks they’ve learned through previous experience. This includes defining contract terms at every level and setting clear expectations from the start.
If your team isn’t already set up to work remotely, you’ll also want to engage tools, such as Slack, Google Hangouts, or Microsoft Teams, to ensure prompt and easy communication between your local and global teams.
Common Challenges in Global Outsourcing
While outsourcing to the Philippines is an excellent solution for many businesses, it is not without its challenges. Time zone management, data security, and intercultural communication may be drawbacks to global hiring.
An experienced outsourcing partner will help you through these initial hurdles when onboarding a Philippine team. They will guide you through protecting sensitive information, offer strategies for effective collaboration across time and cultural differences, and supply best practices for smooth operations.
Hiring global talent has never been easier. Remote work is on the rise, allowing businesses to engage an international talent pool with unlimited skill sets.
If you’re looking to tap into excellent Philippine talent, book a call with us today. We’ll walk you through the hows and whys of outsourcing to the Philippines as your trusted partner for global hiring.
FAQs
What legal requirements do Australian businesses need to consider when outsourcing to the Philippines?
Hiring global remote talent means that your business must adhere to the local laws in Australia and the labour laws in the Philippines.
In the Philippines, you’ll need to navigate a range of legal requirements, including:
- Compliant contracts
- Employee benefits
- Social security contributions
- Onboarding and offboarding processes
- Notice periods and termination laws
- Tax withholdings
- And more
You’ll also need to consider the local laws in Australia, particularly regarding data protection, cross-border data transfers, and global business operations.
An experienced Australian offshoring company can help you navigate these challenges.
How can Australian businesses ensure data privacy and security when outsourcing to the Philippines?
Data privacy and security are crucial when outsourcing to the Philippines. Your organisation will need to adhere to the data privacy laws in Australia to protect your clients and in the Philippines to protect your staff. You’ll also want to consider any sensitive business data that you must protect for the interest of your business.
It’s critical to have the proper documentation and tools in place to compliantly and safely manage data during outsourcing. This includes any relevant non-disclosure agreements, data privacy protection policies, and other critical documentation.
What are the cost benefits of outsourcing to the Philippines compared to other countries?
Employers stand to save about 70% in staff-related costs when outsourcing to the Philippines. The cost of outsourcing to the Philippines is among the lowest in the world. Plus, the country has a robust BPO market, accounting for 9% of its GDP, making it a safe and stable outsourcing market.
When building a team in the Philippines, you won’t just save on salaries. Setting up and running an office in the country is also cheaper. You can either provide employees with remote office stipends or run an office space at a lower cost of rent and utilities.
That said, don’t forget to factor in compliance costs when hiring globally. These will include mandatory employee benefits like the 13th-month salary, taxes and operational costs, and any management fees.
How do time zone differences affect outsourcing to the Philippines, and how can they be managed?
The good news for Australian businesses is that the Philippines is in a similar time zone. Companies based on the West Coast will be aligned with the Philippine time zone, while those in Sydney and Melbourne are only three hours ahead.
You should set precise hours when your Philipinne remote staff must be available and online. If you need support outside of standard working hours, discuss this in the employment contract and staff onboarding. This will protect both your business and your global staff.
Can small businesses or startups benefit from outsourcing to the Philippines, and what should they consider?
Absolutely! Your small business or start-up can take advantage of outsourcing to the Philippines and enjoy many benefits. It can be challenging to get a business running, so cutting costs by outsourcing is a great way to reduce operational expenses. It also allows you to tap into a broader range of talent while still offering competitive salaries within the local market.
As your business grows, you can easily scale up your Philippine team, allowing a smooth expansion. For this, choose the right partner who can grow alongside your small business and support both short and long-term objectives.