7 Common Mistakes to Avoid When Outsourcing to the Philippines

To be precise, outsourcing to the Philippines has become a trend in many organizations across the world, particularly in outsourcing virtual assistant positions. These skills range from the highest quality of most civilized genetics in the labor force to good English language and similarity with the Western business environment. However, just like in most strategic approaches to organizational management, some pitfalls must be mentioned and avoided if one has to get the best out of outsourcing.

In today’s blog, we will present the seven biggest mistakes that companies make outsourcing to the Philippines, with an emphasis on outsourcing virtual assistant positions. Every point mentioned should be a lesson that will ensure you do not make such mistakes in your decision to outsource assistant positions.

Mistake 1: Overlooking the Importance of Clear Communication

Interaction is vital, especially when outsourcing to the Philippines. Many firms tend to undervalue the clear organization of communications channels, leading to confusion, delays, and increased tension between business partners.

To ensure that this is not the case, one should put in place a good communication plan as soon as one starts outsourcing to the Philippines. Some of them could include setting up regular check-ins, deciding on which media should be utilized (e.g., Slack, Zoom, MS Teams), and having a clear understanding of time zones and availability. Minimize the amount of information that has to be communicated and also the frequency at which the communication has to be done. Among these, updating should be done frequently, and when feedback is given, it should be done often.

Moreover, it is also important to have written communications that relate to the work that has been done and the work that is expected to be done. This can include things like job description documents, standard operating procedures, and other documents that outline what is required in terms of output. This way, your outsourced assistant will have all the necessary information to hand, and therefore, there won’t be as many cases of different misunderstandings, which would lead to further mistakes when outsourcing to the Philippines.

Mistake 2: Failing to Provide Adequate Training and Onboarding

One of the most common mistakes that many business people make when outsourcing to Philippines for virtual assistants is the lack of training. First of all, every Filipino VA has his or her skills and professionalism on the table, and every business is special in one way or another; to expect each of these participants to be at their best without training is too unrealistic.

To address this issue, the first days/weeks at work should involve an approach/tool/expertise that is unique to your company – procedures that should be followed or what is expected. In this part, do not rush; instead, spend a good amount of time and go through all the details of his/her work. Perhaps presentations regarding the CRM that you employ, training in how to use project management software and the applications that you work with within the business.

There are also factors such as culture and other characteristics of the organization’s work that have to be taken into account during the onboarding process. This is from the culture of Filipino Virtual Assistants, and it makes it very difficult for them to say no or to speak their mind. Delegate responsibility to the workers and ensure they understand their input is valued. In this way, they invest time in training and onboarding so that you build a better employee relationship, and thus, efficiency is attained when one is outsourcing to the Philippines.

Mistake 3: Choosing Cost Over Quality

However, concentrating solely on the price aspect while outsourcing the assistant positions in the Philippines may be counterproductive. The last thing any business wants is to go with the service provider that offers the cheapest price but has worse work quality, high employee turnover, and more time needed to address complications.

Rather, choose products with good quality despite their higher prices compared to manufactured ones. Choosing a virtual assistant depends on his or her capabilities, competencies, and compatibility with your business. A VA with a higher price tag and a higher skill level will provide you with higher-quality work and will save you time and money in the long run. This is crucial when you outsource assistant tasks.

In this process, make sure to invest in interviews and references, ensuring the individual is suitable for the position. It is advisable to be prepared to spend a few extra dollars and hire a higher quality VA. Cost is an important factor that needs to be considered but you have to focus more on being able to identify a person who can help in the growth of your business, particularly when outsourcing virtual assistant roles.

Mistake 4: Ignoring the Legal and Tax Implications

Some key areas of the legal and taxation concerns that interest businesses outsourcing to the Philippines include the following: Failure to do so may attract fines and penalties and, in extreme cases, result in the legal prosecution of the company—something that is very unfavorable to your company.

Before outsourcing to the Philippines, it is recommended that you consult a legal attorney or lawyer who is conversant in Philippine Labor and outsourcing laws. They may also help you define what you can expect in the contract concerning payment policies that should be observed and other legal and employment policies that are legal in the country.

It is also important to bring to your attention the taxation laws of your home country as well as the laws in the Philippines, more particularly in the areas that are of interest to you. This includes taxes like withholding taxes, VAT, and other taxes that may apply to the conduct of business both domestically and regionally. Most firms find it relevant to contract an outsourcing agency that deals with such legal and tax issues. If you are to embark on this or construct it from scratch, you must ensure you are ‘legal’ to avoid becoming a subject of law, perhaps when outsourcing subordinate positions.

Mistake 5: Not Setting Clear Performance Metrics

The only issue with having no aim is that there is almost no method for measuring how effective outsourcing is. Many companies make the mistake of not formulating or writing down goals and objectives or KPIs while assigning work to their virtual assistants; as such, there appears to be confusion.

Thus, to avoid the above-said scenario, it is possible to define the appropriate work parameters in advance while outsourcing virtual assistant positions. These have to be measurable and linked with your organizational goals. For example, in the case of outsourcing customer support, perhaps you may measure the time taken to reply to customers, the ratings from customers on the services you provide, and the number of tickets solved, among others.

The following metrics should be evaluated for each video on a consistent basis with your virtual assistant, and feedback should be given: As far as performance is concerned, do not let it deteriorate or slide, but rather take the issue with the team and fix it. This, therefore, means that if you are to adopt outsourcing to the Philippines, then these parameters need to be reported on so that the strategy relates to the established objectives and goals.

Mistake 6: Neglecting Cultural Differences

Perhaps one of the biggest errors that an organization can commit is to presume that their culture would not be a problem for people from different cultures.

How culture affect outsourcing to the Philippines? Therefore, the success of outsourcing to the Philippines can be affected quite differently depending on cultural factors. It is also crucial for businesses to understand that the Philippines is not all that dissimilar from Western nations but is also very different.

For example, respect is very important to the Filipinos, and they are more formal or have more layers than direct. At times it can be rather unsettling seeing as not a lot of importance has been placed on these variations. To achieve this, communication with your virtual assistant must be open in that your virtual assistant must have the option to convey messages, opinions, or any issues of concern to you.

Additionally, try to identify how much importance is given to the family in Filipino society. This could mean, for instance, that your VA might be allowed to take leave to deal with family matters or any other concerns. Perhaps it will be worthwhile to take these further dimensions of the culture into account, which may potentially contribute to the improvement of mutual understanding between the user and the outsourced assistant appliance.

To condition the potential of cultural gaps, it is essential to conduct cross-cultural training for your employees and the virtual assistant. This can help people develop an understanding of the other’s working schedule and quality, thus boosting working relations, especially if outsourcing to the Philippines.

Mistake 7: Failing to Establish a Long-Term Relationship

Outsourcing to Philippines can be seen as a long term strategy and not a short term one. There are organizations that engage their virtual assistants but do not fully commit to them since they believe that the workers are only temporary; therefore, a high turnover is anticipated.

To assist in improving returns on investment on new employment in virtual assistant responsibilities in the Philippines, maintain a strategic management focus on quality and steady interaction in the long term. This means you proceed to call your outsourcing assistant a third party rather than an outside contractor. Let them attend team meetings, acknowledge them, and make sure they go through a developmental phase.

As we begin on a long-term project, it also means the person will be able to gain employment stability. Should this unmask them as feeling peripheral and threatened by their experience and tenure at the company, it is likely that they hold only a partial allegiance to your business. If such a worker is the focus of the development and there is a clear structural promotion agenda, then such a worker is likely to be loyal, and therefore, the turnover rate is low.

Therefore, when establishing a long-term relationship with an outsource assistant, there would be enhanced performance, more productivity, and efficient cooperation.

Conclusion

Utilizing the talent pool of the Philippines as outsourcing agents to help cut expenses, improve competitiveness, or find a pool of highly skilled workers is a goldmine. Nevertheless, it is important to note that these sources determine the efficiency of your outsourcing and, of course, the mistakes that should be avoided. There is the ability to set the right groundwork through being very clear over the communication channels one seeks to have with the outsourcing partner and giving a lot of thrust towards training and corporation of human resource practices of the outsourcing partner, avoiding hurrying or slashing on quality and striving to do things right.

However, one has to consider legal and taxation aspects, determine KPIs, and take into account cultural differences, which are essential activities that will help to continue cooperating with your virtual assistants. This rationality of investing one’s outsourced assistant into the internal environment of the organization instead of perceiving him/her as an external contractor would, therefore, mean that these individuals are more committed and less likely to follow the turnover rate and hence benefit the business.