Outsourcing is about more than finding someone who can perform a list of tasks. The right people, preparation, working environment and ongoing support all contribute to creating a successful outsourcing partnership.
Since 2010, Affordable Staff has supported hundreds of businesses and delivered millions of hours of outsourced services. Over that time, we have continued to develop our recruitment, training, technology, security, onboarding and support systems to provide a managed outsourcing experience for our clients and our people.
The Affordable Staff Experience
When you partner with Affordable Staff, you are not simply assigned a person and left to manage everything yourself.
Before placement, we invest significantly in attracting, recruiting, employing, training and developing our people. Once placed, the Assigned Team Member works within an established office environment with access to the people, systems, technology and ongoing support designed to help them succeed.
Support from day one
Our onsite support structure includes Team Leaders, Team Success Managers, trainers, IT support, team member wellbeing support and other specialists.
Team Success Managers also assist with the onboarding journey, supporting the Assigned Team Member as they settle into the role and become familiar with the client’s systems, processes and expectations.
Training and development
Learning does not stop once an Assigned Team Member begins working with a client. Our Learning and Development team provides ongoing training and development opportunities to help our people strengthen their capabilities, learn new skills and continue developing throughout their employment with Affordable Staff.
Technology and infrastructure
Assigned Team Members work within an established office environment with the technology and infrastructure required to support their roles. This includes high spec workstations, IT support and backup power and internet solutions designed to help maintain business continuity.
Security and quality
Affordable Staff is ISO 27001:2022 certified for information security and ISO 9001:2015 certified for quality management. Assigned Team Members also sign legally binding NDAs, and our systems and processes are designed with the security of client information and intellectual property in mind.
People, wellbeing and engagement
We believe providing great support to our clients starts with creating a workplace where our people feel supported, connected and valued.
Our people have access to dedicated wellbeing support, an onsite medical clinic, health and wellbeing initiatives, fitness activities, social and cultural events, special interest groups and regular team engagement activities.
Assigned Team Members also work alongside colleagues and have access to our wider onsite support network, so they are surrounded by people who can assist them throughout their employment.
We invest in learning, career development and opportunities for progression, helping our people build new skills, develop professionally and grow their careers within Affordable Staff.
For clients, this means the Assigned Team Member supporting their business is not working remotely and in isolation. They are part of an established workplace and community with support around their development, performance, health and wellbeing.
Australian and Philippines based support
With support across Australia and the Philippines, we understand the importance of clear communication, cultural awareness and building strong working relationships between clients and Assigned Team Members.
More than a placement
Ultimately, Affordable Staff provides much more than an Assigned Team Member.
Behind every placement is an established employment structure that includes recruitment, training and development, onboarding assistance, technology, IT, leadership, performance support, wellbeing initiatives and an engaged workplace community.
We take responsibility for employing and supporting our people, while our clients provide the business specific knowledge, direction and connection that helps the Assigned Team Member successfully integrate into their operations.
It is a model designed to support both sides of the relationship, helping businesses build capacity with confidence while providing meaningful employment, development and career opportunities for our people in the Philippines.
Since 2010, Affordable Staff has been helping businesses across Australia and New Zealand grow through high quality offshore staffing solutions. Over the years, we’ve continually refined our recruitment, onboarding, security and management processes to deliver a reliable, secure and seamless outsourcing experience.
Today, we’re proudly certified to ISO 9001 for Quality Management and ISO 27001 for Information Security, giving our clients confidence they’re partnering with an experienced and trusted provider.
Our Vision
We see a world where work makes life more meaningful.
Our Purpose
We exist to inspire confidence and get it done together.
Our Mission
We aim to be a driving force in reshaping how people and businesses work.
Our Values
Our cultural framework is simple, concise and reflects how we operate at Affordable Staff every day.
Since 2010, Affordable Staff has been helping businesses across Australia and New Zealand grow with high quality offshore staffing solutions. Over that time, we’ve supported thousands of clients and delivered millions of hours of support, continually refining what we call The Affordable Staff Experience.
Our approach is built around three core elements working together:
Supporting these core elements are seven key service areas that ensure every partnership is set up for long term success:
Together, these three core elements and seven service pillars create a proven framework that helps businesses scale with confidence while creating meaningful opportunities for our people.
Affordable Staff operates from a purpose built, secure office in Bacolod, Philippines, spanning more than 5,000 square metres. The majority of our office is dedicated to our Virtual Assistants, who work exclusively from our office to support clients across Australia and New Zealand.
Supporting them is a dedicated team of professionals including Team Leaders, Customer and Team Success Managers, HR, IT Support, Learning and Development, Health and Wellness, Recruitment and Operations, ensuring both our clients and Team Members receive ongoing support and guidance.
Our Australian team focuses on growth and partnerships, client relationship management, finance and marketing, working closely with our Philippines team to deliver a seamless client experience.
Together, our Australian and Philippines teams provide the expertise, infrastructure and support that underpin The Affordable Staff Experience.
In the video above, our COO, Eva Judge, takes you behind the scenes to show where our team works and how we’ve built an environment designed to support both our Team Members and our clients.
At Affordable Staff, every Team Member works from our secure, purpose built office in Bacolod, Philippines. We do not operate a work from home model, giving our clients the confidence that their Team Members are supported by secure infrastructure, reliable technology and experienced on-site leadership.
Our 5,000+ square metre facility provides a mature, ready to implement outsourcing solution, with dedicated teams across IT, HR, Learning and Development, Customer Success, Operations and Health and Wellness working together to support both our clients and our Team Members.
Beyond the workspace, we’ve created an environment where people can build long term careers. Our facilities include collaborative workspaces, breakout areas, a cafeteria, onsite medical clinic, music and games rooms, and an onsite childcare centre, all designed to support the wellbeing and engagement of our people.
The result is a stable, supported workforce that enables us to deliver a consistent, high quality experience for our clients.
As of 2026, the Philippines remains one of the world’s leading outsourcing destinations, employing approximately 1.8 million professionals across the Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) industry.
For Australian businesses, the Philippines offers a unique combination of talent, strong communication and excellent value.
People and culture:
Filipino professionals are known for their warmth, professionalism, resilience and commitment to delivering exceptional service.
Strong English proficiency:
English is one of the country’s official languages and is widely spoken in education, business and everyday life.
Cost effective staffing:
A lower cost of living allows businesses to access highly capable professionals while achieving significant savings compared to local employment.
Aligned with Australian business hours
With only a small time difference to Australia’s east coast, Team Members can work seamlessly alongside Australian businesses.
These advantages have made the Philippines the preferred offshore staffing destination for thousands of businesses across Australia and New Zealand.
Yes. English is one of the Philippines’ official languages and is widely spoken throughout education, business and everyday life, making communication with Australian businesses seamless.
To ensure the highest standards, every Affordable Staff candidate completes comprehensive spoken and written English assessments as part of our rigorous 7-step recruitment process before joining our team.
All candidates who apply to work with Affordable Staff are required to undertake a national criminal and police clearance, combined with reference checks from previous employers.
All employees are hired as permanent full-time staff and sign a legally enforceable Non-Disclosure Agreement to protect Affordable Staff and its clients.
At Affordable Staff, training is designed to ensure Virtual Assistants are confident and ready to support your business from day one.
Every VA completes our Academy Foundations program through our Learning Management System, with training tailored to their role, industry and individual pace. Training is also aligned to the specific role they’re hired for, with additional requirements where needed. For example, bookkeeping and accounts roles require Xero accreditation.
If you’d like to learn more about training relevant to your industry, speak with our Business Development team.
Absolutely. We can support you with training plans and processes, tailored to your business and industry.
If you’d like to explore how we can help, feel free to speak with our Affordable Staff Business Development Manager, who can guide you through the options available.
If you’re new to outsourcing, that’s completely fine; you’re in good hands. Over the years, we have developed a comprehensive onboarding process designed to make your experience as smooth as possible.
To set the new Virtual Assistant up for success, we recommend brainstorming a task list in advance to give us the foundation before they begin. Even a rough outline of the tasks you’d like support with is a great starting point.
During onboarding, we help you align the new team member on how you’d like tasks completed, and once onboarded, if necessary, the new team member will help document your processes, build Standard Operating Procedures, and create training resources around your workflows.
As an example, clients also find tools like Loom helpful for recording short walkthrough videos to explain tasks and processes quickly and clearly.
We recommend scheduling an onboarding session early on to introduce the Virtual Assistant to your business, explain expectations, and provide context around your clients, systems, and workflows. We have a best-practice methodology that can assist you.
With the right preparation and support, most clients are surprised by how quickly their Virtual Assistant becomes a valuable part of the team.
System access is set up for the assigned Virtual Assistant much like it would be for any new team member.
This typically includes an email address, access to cloud storage, access and licences to relevant software’s or CRMs, and in some cases, an IP phone number depending on the role. We work with IT teams and with clients to ensure this stage of the onboarding is as seamless as possible and before the assigned Virtual Assistant starts.
Security and protection of your intellectual property are important considerations, whether staff are based locally or offshore.
At Affordable Staff, we take a proactive approach to minimising risk. All Virtual Assistants sign legally binding NDAs, and our recruitment process is designed to identify and filter out potential risks early.
We’re also ISO 27001:2022 certified for information security and ISO 9001:2015 certified for quality management, reflecting our commitment to maintaining secure systems and consistent, high-quality processes.
We encourage best-practice setups, such as keeping sensitive information cloud-based rather than stored on individual devices, which helps reduce exposure.
While no system is completely risk-free, our approach is centred on prevention, transparency and maintaining a secure, well-managed environment for your business data.
If you have any questions about security or intellectual property, or your business has specific security, compliance or IT requirements, please speak with our Business Development Manager. They can discuss your requirements with you and help ensure they are considered as part of your setup.
ISO 27001 is a global standard focused on keeping information secure, something that’s critical for the businesses we support.
For clients, it means data is handled with care. We use secure systems, clear processes and the right controls to protect sensitive information at every stage.
It also means being prepared for the unexpected. With response plans and recovery measures in place, we’re able to minimise disruption and keep things running smoothly if issues arise.
At Affordable Staff, ISO 27001 reflects our ongoing commitment to protecting information and supporting secure, reliable operations.
ISO 9001 is a global standard focused on quality management, ensuring people and systems work together to deliver consistent, reliable outcomes.
For clients, it means a service that is structured, dependable and continuously improving. From onboarding and industry-specific training through to ongoing support, everything is designed to set Virtual Assistants up for success from day one.
Standardised processes, quality monitoring and regular external audits help ensure we consistently deliver on what we promise.
At Affordable Staff, ISO 9001 isn’t just a requirement, it’s the framework that supports high-quality service and continuous improvement.
Staying connected with an outsourced team is simple, with a range of tools available to support clear communication and collaboration.
Common ways clients stay in touch include:
These tools also make it easy to train and upskill a Virtual Assistant on any custom tasks.
Virtual Assistants can be fully integrated into your existing systems, making it easy to manage tasks, monitor progress and stay connected day to day. Everything is set up to keep communication clear and workflows running smoothly.
If your business already uses specific communication or collaboration tools, speak with the Business Development Manager about your requirements. They can discuss how these tools may be incorporated into the Virtual Assistant’s setup.
We provide a range of tools and support to help you monitor performance and stay across the assigned VA’s work.
This includes tools like Hubstaff, which allow you to track activity levels against set benchmarks and view periodic screen snapshots. We also use shared platforms such as Google Drive to give you visibility over tasks and progress.
At Affordable Staff, VA’s are also supported by our internal team, including Team Leaders and support staff, who help monitor performance, provide guidance and ensure tasks are completed to a high standard.
We work with a wide range of clients, from businesses engaging a single Virtual Assistant to those building larger outsourced teams.
The cost will vary depending on factors such as the experience, skills and tenure of the Virtual Assistant, as well as the specific requirements of the role.
For many businesses, outsourcing with Affordable Staff can offer a more cost effective staffing solution compared with hiring a locally based employee in Australia, while providing access to professionals who can become an integral part of your business.
As every business and role is different, we recommend speaking with our Business Development Manager. They can take the time to understand your specific needs, discuss the options available and provide pricing relevant to your requirements.
A good starting point is to look at the tasks being completed across your business each week and identify where time is being spent on repetitive, administrative or process driven activities.
Consider the tasks that need to be done consistently but may be taking valuable time away from your team’s core responsibilities. These can often be good opportunities to explore outsourcing.
Common examples include:
The right tasks to outsource will depend on your business, your existing processes and the skills required for the role. Some tasks may also require business specific training before they can be performed independently.
If you are unsure where to start, your Business Development Manager can work with you to understand your current workload and identify tasks and processes that may be suitable for outsourcing.
Outsourcing can provide businesses with additional capacity, access to skilled people and greater flexibility in how work is managed.
The benefits of outsourcing will be different for every business. Our Business Development Manager can help you identify where outsourcing may add value and discuss options based on your specific requirements.
Like any staffing decision, outsourcing works best when there are clear expectations, good communication and the right support in place. At Affordable Staff, we have systems, infrastructure and onsite support teams designed to help manage many of the common challenges associated with offshore staffing.
We also have systems and processes that provide visibility over attendance, productivity and performance, helping identify where additional support or development may be required.
Before placement, Affordable Staff invests significantly in the recruitment, employment, training and development of our Virtual Assistants. Once assigned, the Team Success Manager also supports the Virtual Assistant through the onboarding process, helping them settle into the role, understand expectations and navigate the transition into your business.
You provide the business specific knowledge and training that is unique to your organisation, while the Team Success Manager and our wider onsite support team are there to assist throughout the onboarding journey.
This makes it feel much more like a partnership. The client still needs to provide their specific business knowledge, but they are not left to onboard the VA by themselves.
A supported approach to outsourcing
Outsourcing does not remove the need to manage, communicate and develop people. What it can provide is an additional support structure around the employment relationship.
Affordable Staff manages the employment of our Virtual Assistants and provides the workplace, technology, infrastructure and onsite support around them, while you focus on integrating the Virtual Assistant into your business and developing their knowledge of your specific processes.
If you have particular requirements or concerns about outsourcing, speak with the Business Development Manager. They can discuss your business, the role and the support available before you make a decision.
It is an important question, particularly for businesses considering how outsourcing fits alongside employing people locally.
Outsourcing does not necessarily mean replacing local jobs. For many businesses, it is a way to add capacity, support existing employees and access skills that allow the business to operate more efficiently.
A Virtual Assistant can take responsibility for suitable administrative, operational and specialised tasks, giving local employees more capacity to focus on customers, leadership, technical work, business development and other responsibilities that may benefit from being performed locally.
For growing businesses, outsourcing can also provide a more cost effective way to increase capacity. This can help businesses remain competitive, manage increasing workloads and invest their resources in other areas of the organisation.
In some cases, the additional capacity created through outsourcing can support further business growth, which may also lead to new opportunities and employment locally.
Outsourcing also creates meaningful employment and career opportunities in the Philippines. At Affordable Staff, Virtual Assistants are employed and supported within an established workplace, with access to training, development, technology, leadership and wellbeing support.
Ultimately, outsourcing and local employment do not have to be an either or decision. When used effectively, they can work together as part of a broader staffing strategy that supports a stronger and more sustainable business.
