In this Q and A we’re going to answer :

  • Do People in the Philippines know how to speak English?
  • Will my staff contact me on the weekend and ask for extra money to pay for their surgery?
  • Do you engage in or are you involved in any slave labour?

Transcript of the video:


David Judge from Affordable Staff and welcome to our RAW q&a session around outsourcing.

We’ve created these series of videos for businesses that have considered outsourcing and they have genuine questions or concerns that need answering.

The format? 3 questions and 3 answers based on over 250,000 hours of outsourcing experience.

Today’s questions I have to say are a little more direct than usual, so let’s get into it



Do People in the Philippines know how to speak English?


There are approximately 175 languages within the Philippines, with the 2 official languages being Filipino and English.

When we visit local schools and universities we always notice signs everywhere that say ‘English Only’.

As an interesting side note, Spanish was the national and official language of the country for more than three centuries under Spanish colonial rule, then following the American occupation of the Philippines, the use of Spanish declined gradually, especially after the 1940s.



Will my staff contact me on the weekend and ask for extra money to pay for their surgery?


If you are employing a contractor that works directly for you and not under a corporation then there is a chance they may call you asking for extra money.

When we first started outsourcing we actually had this issue with a team member that contacted a client as they were moving to Singapore for cosmetic surgery.

So yes, it may happen depending on the relationship you have with your team member and the structure you have in place.

By structure, I’m not talking about a company in Australia employing people in another country, I’m specifically talking about a corporation (or a registered business) actually set up within the Philippines.

If you have this structure in place (as we do), then you can have all of your team on legally binding employment agreements and legally binding non disclosure agreements meaning they will be in breach of that agreement if they were to do something like ask for money for surgery.

With all of that in mind, since we’ve employed our team under our Philippines corporation and we cover their health and medical, holiday, sickness, etc. as well offering a competitive salary package and as a result, we have not experienced that issue.



Do you engage in or are you involved in any slave labour?


The simple answer to that question is a big resounding NO!!!

We actually comply with the eight conventions labelled as “fundamental”, covering subjects that are considered as fundamental principles and rights at work from the International Labour Organisation (or ILO).

Of the Eight, the key areas of focus for us are:

International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention N° 138 – which is all employees being over the age of 15 years

International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention N° 29 and 105 – which is around the banning of forced labour

International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention N° 111 – which is to provide equal opportunities for employees irrespective of ( gender, ethnic, group, religion, disability, sexual orientation, union membership, political affiliation…)

International Labour Organization (ILO) Convention N° 100 – which is in relation is equal remuneration (or wages) based on national laws and regulations.

Aside from the fact that it’s morally questionable to engage in ‘Slave Labour’ I do not think from a business perspective that it would be a sustainable business model in the outsourcing world.


Ok, that’s it


If you’d like to find out more about how outsourcing can work within your business you can call us anywhere within Australia on 1300 139 482.

This is David Judge from affordable staff showing Australian businesses how to achieve business efficiency through outsourcing.