by Francis
(May 02, 2013)
To be honest, I cannot say that I agree completely with everything that is written here. The lower wage @$2/hr that may typically be quoted for outsourcing to Asian countries is over-rated.
Believe it or not, there are constellations where such a pay is indeed ethical or at least in my opinion.
In some countries, college students that would like to gain a few additional dollars would be excited about earning $2/hour. It will literally be a multiple of what they would be able to earn elsewhere.
Also, working online is often by far not as difficult as labor work, for example. Of course, if you live in a western country like Europe or the US, $2 an hour will and should feel weird.
But there are very different place on this planet… Different cultures and different economies. Of course, paying someone $2 an hour in a 3rd world country will not change the economy of that country for the better.
However, consider this situation:
- Someone in the US, who is not a high earner, puts aside a $100 a month and pays someone to work for him.
This might be a win-win situation for both of them.
The person from the US with a low capital would not have enough money to hire a professional assistant from the US. The college student from a third world country can find a comfortable way to gain additional money to support his family and his studies.
As he supports his studies, he will have greater chance to be successful when he gets out there and gets a real job. In my opinion a situation like that would be a win-win-win.
Therefore I feel it’s too easy to just say:
“OMG! $2 an hour. How bad is it that?!”
I’d love to hear your opinion and have a lively discussion.
Comments for Outsourcing for $2 an hour is morally wrong!
| Aug 28, 2014 | one employer is not enough This is the most decent offer for those who are outsourcing their jobs. Once upon a time, the dollar reached to a very decent amount in Philippine money. And since our economy is bouncing up again for the past few years, so 2 dollars (for me) is not equally right for us dollar earner. Hard work is not well compensated with this kind of amount, leaving no option for online workers, but to look for another freelance job or project based job. It’s better than sticking to one employer. And a person who is technically knowledgeable can profit a lot from working online, but if you’re not the techie guy~~you’ll just rely on 2 dollars an hour writing some posts and do some data entry stuff. |
| Sep 03, 2014 | Lower wages are often accepted by VAs to build their profiles Although for the popular outsourcing service odesk the minimum wage will be increased to 3$/hour soon, until now it has been possible to hire people for down to 0,5$/hour (!) Although that rate was extremely underpaying people living no-matter-where, there were still applicants taking these jobs. Why? They were promised good feedback for “easy work”. Abusive employers will always be able to find such workarounds. As an employer, I would not want to hire anyone who accepts such heavily underpaid rates. It just shows me how desperate these applicants must be. And for my business, I don’t need a desperate VA, but an excellent one. Although there can be some “motivation” behind extremely poor conditions, I strongly believe that it’s the wrong way to go on expanding your business. About working for more than one employer: that’s always acceptable as long as you are upfront about it to both your employers. Else you will just be tired from working two jobs and, worst-case scenario, end up without either of both jobs in the end. |
| Oct 06, 2014 | Pay scale One of the most important variables is the pay levels in the country that the VA is living. If we are starting to pay double to tripple the local rates, we seriously mess up their economies. I pay just a little more. They are happy to have a job, and are happy to have a fair wage relative to their location. |
| Oct 09, 2014 | Economy Status Hi Robert, Yes, you have a point. But, in my opinion, a double or triple pay is applicable to freelancers. And, for us as monthly dollar earners who rely on one employer will be greatly affected if our economy will go down south. So, if we can’t have two or three employers at one time, a fixed monthly payment will surely be just fine. Like a monthly payment in peso (our local money). Before, we used to have a dollar exchange rate at 50 pesos, but now it’s struggling to go up in 45 pesos. It’s joggling from 42 to 43. And we are greatly affected from time to time. Thanks for your contribution by the way, I would like to hear more from you =) |
| Feb 20, 2015 | VAs Will Prefer a Payment in US Dollars If the local currency is very much changing, like you say the pesos is, then you will probably want be paid in US dollars ideally. With the US dollar, you have a better chance to know what the value of your money is. And even if your local currency goes down, you still receive the full value for your work. What I did when I hired Jomvie, is that I asked him which format and with which services he would prefer to be paid. Especially if it doesn’t change anything on the side of the employer, if you are an employer, give your virtual assistant this benefit that he can choose in which currency and with which format and payment service he wants to be paid. For you, it’s perhaps only learning to use one more payment service. For your virtual assistant, it can make a lot of difference especially if their currency is changing a lot. To Robert, I want to say that I do not think that paying one or two virtual assistants, in any country, higher wages will have a big impact on their economy. On the other hand, it is probably good business sense not to overpay your virtual assistant if it cuts into your budget. Try to find a middle ground between a more than solid payment for your virtual assistant and a profitable return of investment for your business. |
Leave a Reply