Learn how to outsource morally. When you choose to cheaply hire someone to work for you as a virtual assistant, you have a responsibility towards him and should know about ethics in business.
Business Ethics
Reader Interactions
Cost of Living in Thailand – Part 2/3
This is part 2 of the interview about cost of living in Thailand.
Click here to read part 1 of the interview.
Topics of this part of the interview
- Cost of going out in Thailand, night clubs, bars etc
- Cost of amusements, like a boat tour around the islands
- Cost of air tickets and Visa guidelines
- Cities/Places to go in Thailand
Start of the Interview:
Francis:
How about cost of going out? Let’s say, you and me, we go where you’re living into the next club, dance our asses off and pay for lots of drinks.
Stefan:
First of all, this does not exist here. There are no nightclubs.
Francis:
What about bars?
Stefan:
Yeah, there are many bars. This is the night amusement in Asia. You don’t have nightclubs. I assume it’s because it’s so hot but I don’t know why. People in Asia don’t seem to like clubs like as we know in the western society. I don’t know why but it’s…
Francis:
I wouldn’t mind. I wouldn’t mind that too much.
Stefan:
And there’s like open door bars. You know, you have a bar and it’s open, you don’t go in. It’s like outside. It’s like in a German beer garden, for example. But it’s a bar and you sit down and get orders and whatever.
That’s very common here. Every 10 meters, you have a bar. And the price wouldn’t be high like, let me think, 50 cents to 1 Euro for a beer or something. Very inexpensive.
Francis:
That is like a dream come true. Is there any entrance fees?
Stefan:
No, no. This is a normal bar. This is like a restaurant.
Francis:
Okay.
Stefan:
You just come in.
Francis:How about amusement? I take a boat tour around the islands.
Enjoy nice boat tours in Thailand
Stefan:
Ah, yeah!
Francis:
How much for a boat pass?
Stefan:
I was looking on the boat too because where I live we have some boat and some islands in front of the coast where it was really like paradise.
Because where I live, we live on the land not on an island and when you want to drive out to islands; it costs you about 40 Baht like $1 one way.
Francis:
It’s crazy.
Stefan:
Or if you want to rent a boat for the whole day, it’s about 1500 Baht per day for up to 8 people. And he just drives you at wherever you want for the whole day.
Francis:
That’s about $40.
Stefan:
Yeah and you can be 6-8 people. You can go all day like from one island to the next island and he waits for you until you’re done. And when you’re done, you just go to your boat and tell you want to go back.
Francis:
That’s amazing. How much is the flight to Thailand from Germany?
Stefan:
One-way or two-ways?
Francis:
Let’s say, one-way for simplicity.
Stefan:
One-way is about…because when you book two-ways…you actually have to book two-ways.
Francis:
Then we’ll take two-ways.
Stefan:
Let me explain. When you go to Thailand, you aren’t allowed to go to Thailand if you don’t have a ticket to leave again because of the visa stuff and everything.
You need to have further travelling tickets. Let’s assume you travel to Thailand and then from Thailand, in 3 weeks, to Australia – Melbourne for example. Then you only a one-way ticket from Europe to Thailand and that’s about 400 Euros. And the two-way is around 700 Euros. So it’s a little bit cheaper.
Francis:
It seems extremely affordable still. Are they any downsides you can think off of having a holiday in Thailand?
Stefan:
Holidays? No. But living here is not as perfect no-problem as what you think because many people think it’s perfect and you have no troubles at all. But for holidays, there’s no problem.
If you want to go for a vacation, Bangkok if you want to see a big city which has everything. It’s like crazy. It’s really crazy. You never have experienced anything in Europe like that. It’s like a melting pot. You have crazy stuff in it.
Twelve million people explains everything, we don’t even have that many people in somewhere in Europe. It’s like imagine New York but with a mixture of New York and…
Francis:
…and a big beach party or a festival?
Stefan:
Yeah, something like that. I mean, you have, everywhere, cooking food stands and people are using small canals for travelling through the city through their old waterways. Because there are still waterways and it’s like paths, okay? I mean, where and in what continent, in what city does that exists today?
Anyway, the other city I would recommend is Chiang Mai. It’s like Bangkok but it’s smaller. A friend of mine lived in Chiang Mai and says it’s amazing because it’s the most western city of all Thailand.
And the third thing I would recommend is where I live, in Krabi in the south, because this is all where all the beach action happens. The place that I would never recommend is Phuket.
Francis:
That’s the place everyone knows.
Stefan:
Yeah but I would highly not recommend you to go there.
Because it’s extremely touristic. It’s extremely expensive. It’s a rip-off. It’s where you can eat for 30 times the price that you eat 100km further, you know.
So the whole area of Phuket is huge rip-off. You arrive at the airport in Phuket and you cant leave the airport. The only way to leave the airport is by taking a taxi which costs like 20 Euros or $20. For a taxi-drive, that costs you $3 normally and it’s not possible because there’s a curtail or mafia, basically, around it. You can’t even leave the airport without it because they are put far away from any society.
So I would never recommend Phuket. Stay away from there, alright?
Francis:
Thanks for the tip. I think many of the readers will appreciate it or perhaps, protest forcefully against it lower down in the comments. Let’s see.
Continue reading part 3 of this interview
Outsourcing Is Only Possible Because You Have Different Cost Of Living By States
If you have travelled a bit, you will have made the difference that when you visit foreign countries, you might sometimes be surprised by how cheap everything is.
That’s when you feel the difference of cost of living from a foreign country.
Want an illustration?
Data entry job for students in Germany: 10 €/hour
Data entry job over oDesk in India: 1$/hour
When we interviewed different candidates for outsourcing case studies, we also included a questionnaire about how much living cost in the different countries.
You will find our results of this research of different cost of living by state below on this page. What I want to emphasize is that the process of outsourcing is naturally caused by these differences of income.
If you want to find out how much income levels differ in different states, then you can make use of a cost of living comparison calculator.
It doesn’t make outsourcing bad. Only if you adapt the money you invest into a foreign currency, and still are a cheap rip-off then there is nothing ethical in your business attitude.
If you are living in a country in Europe or America, chances are that your income levels are much higher than in so-called underdeveloped countries like India, China or even the Philippines.
Be smart and make use of the talented people there – you can then easily create a win-win situation.
- Create a job for someone who needs a job.
- Get quality work done for a fraction of the price you would pay in your own country.
- If you do it right, you don’t have to feel bad about it because you have the possibility to do much good even above borders of your country.
I put up this page here on my website to illustrate how different the world can be, how much difference there can be in the cost of a burger.
There are countries where feeding a whole family for $300 a month is not only a possibility, but reality.
Cost of Living in Thailand
Christian Business Ethics– Important To Know If You Work With Vas From The Philippines
If you deal with Virtual Assistants from the Philippines in particular, then you should be aware that they probably will be Christian. Knowing about Christian business ethics will help you bring the most out of the relationship with your VA and therefore get the best results.
I asked my full-time Virtual Assistant from the Philippines, Jomvie, for his perspective on this subject, as a look behind the scenes, so-to-speak.
– Francis
How do Christian values apply to business ethics?
Honestly, when I was handed over the topic “Christian Business Ethics,” I was in awe and I didn’t know where to start.
I’m a Christian!
Yes, I am, but not the religious one.
When it comes to business and religion or religious beliefs, for me, they’re both equal. In order for me to get started with this post, I decided to make it chatty, so later on in time you’ll interact with me and know what are your standards and where you will stand.
Christian Business ethics and values
“Can my religion affect how I deal with my business?”
In my opinion, belief and business are two things that I don’t want to get mixed up. But, there’s nothing wrong with saying praises or nice words to your work mate/s or other deals—and as long as he/she will not get offended. You may hear others say:
- “Bless you” or “God bless you.”
- “May the good Lord bless you more.”
And for our fellow Christian, Muslim brothers and sisters:
- “Insha Allah.”
I don’t get offended by these words, as I respect their individual beliefs and religion. Likewise, they are giving me due respect for what I believe in also—respect for one another is the golden rule.
First, know the background, especially others’ beliefs, because we can’t please everybody when it comes to saying praises.
Which Denomination You Belong To
The Philippines’ population consists of a majority of Christian households. But, when you say “Christian” it depends on which denomination you belong to. It could be:
- Roman Catholic
- Protestants
- Born Again
- Baptist
- Others
In other countries, especially Western countries, you can’t just open up or say things like:
- “Bless you”
- “Praise God”
- Or even say the name “Jesus Christ” or “God”
In some cases, lawsuits are filed because an individual believes in something that is not known to all.
One good example is a family friend who lived in New Jersey. While they were on their lunch break, they were talking about some random stuff and eventually landed on this “Jesus Christ” topic. One of her co-workers told her,
“Hey, Thelma, you know what? I can sue you for saying that ‘name’ right in front of me.”
And then she fled the mess hall right away. But, at least, considering she’s new in the group, the guy said it jokingly. Just a sort of warning to her to not say it again.
Christian Values
For me, Christian values are gauged to help you deal with other things such as to:
- Help you deal things in the right way
- A gauge for your decision making
- Respect for others
- Treat others equally
Or you can treat others, even without your Christian values by:
“Giving others what is due to them—the Golden rule.”
The Golden Rule
You don’t need to be a Christian to treat others equally, you don’t have to learn moral and ethical lessons to know how to deal with things regarding other people.
Jomvie, A full-time virtual assistant from the Philippines meeting his employer Francis from Germany in person.
Christianity is just a norm to know where you belong—socially.
How you were raised and disciplined all throughout your growing up years is what molds you to be who you are now.
It’s not the religion, your belief or lessons in school—it’s within yourself and how you deal with the things in your life.
“The Golden Rule—lives within yourself.”
Outsourcing Business Ethics Case Study With A Virtual Assistant From Pakistan
My virtual assistant and I had a big discussion about the morality of outsourcing. The biggest part of the discussion is presented in this business ethics case study. Since we have worked together for years, I trust his honest judgement.
The main reason for a critical business ethics case study was the underlying question:
- “Is outsourcing to India and Pakistan dangerous and/or immoral?”
The questions are theoretical, and the answers are from my VA from Pakistan and are marked like this.
Part 1: Is it immoral to do outsourcing to poorer countries?
Is it moral to pay low hourly wages? Let’s say: 1$/hour
I think most of the freelancers are either part timers or are students.
- For a student who is earning $5 per day is a huge amount. If I think of my school days, it is equal to my monthly pocket money.
But I am too old to discuss my school days 🙂 and things have been changed so much and prices have been increased so far. Still, I can say that for a student it’s good pocket money for one week.
So he is earning an amount which is equivalent to his full weeks pocket money by working for just 5 hours, I think it is GREAT.
- For Part Timers, it is also a good amount because if they are already earning on other jobs where they are paid fixed salary per month.
Why not work 10-20 hours as a freelancer and earn some extra amount?
Bottom line:
Obviously, if someone is working at this rate, he or she is doing this on their own will. You are not forcing them to work at this low wage. And if it is so low that they can’t meet their personal requirements, they will rather leave this job and search for a better one.
In our business ethics case study, we also discussed theoretical dangers for the sake of completeness. Please don’t be overly worried when doing outsourcing.
Poverty breeds criminality. How do I know that the money I pay someone isn’t going to e.g. some drug dealers?
Well, it is quite possible that your money directly or indirectly goes into these types of activities. For example, someone can snatch your money or your mobile phone and buy some drugs for himself. But you can’t make sure it doesn’t happen to you, even if you are residing in the USA.
But the real question is regarding the morality of this kind of act.
An example:
Suppose you are running an office (a normal physical office, not a virtual one) and you pay Mr. XYZ a fixed or hourly salary. For example $100 per week.
You know he is a party type of person and he will spend a large amount of this money on drinking alcohol and cigarettes. Although drinking alcohol or smoking cigarettes is not a crime, it still can cause death.
Theoretically speaking, for out business ethics case study:
Have you ever thought that you should fire him?
Or that it’s not good to pay him money because he will spend it on alcohol or cigarettes?
Even if he is an efficient worker?
I don’t think so.
Let’s look at the worst-case situation:
Mr. XYZ works for you and you pay him $50 as his weekly salary. The next day, he doesn’t come to the office. When you call him at home you learn that he committed suicide last night by drinking a bottle of poison.
Now think about it.
Are you really morally guilty that he bought that poison from the money with which you paid him?
The Police will investigate where he bought that poison.
Have you ever heard the Police investigate where he got the money to buy this bottle of poison?
Our business ethics case study also discussed possible dangers of outsourcing – or if these worries were warranted…
Business ethics case study, Part 2: Is there a personal danger to outsource to countries like Pakistan?
How can I make sure that a person who claims to work for me doesn’t pay half of the money he gets to some sort of mafia organization?
OK, now to the million dollar question. Let me answer it in detail.
Although you have not mentioned the word “terrorists”, I am sure that your discussion partner would have used this word for sure.
I think the people who work for the mafia are usually high paid with minimum efforts 😉
If that answer is not sufficient, let me explain it a bit further.
I don’t think that a person, who is working hard, around 120-150 hours per month, earning $120-130 at the end of the month, would pay half of that amount to the mafia.
BOTTOM LINE
Don't just take the cheap labor for granted:
Think through different scenarios and make sure you know what you are doing.
Double check everything.
Then, simply move on and get started with your outsourcing efforts!
Why would he?
Or why is he working so hard to earn only $60 dollars per month?
Is $60 is a big amount for any mafia?
Certainly not.
I think mafia and terrorist organizations use “other methods” for their fund raising and are not dependent on such a low amount.
Obviously it’s your ethical right to make sure that you do not support any of these organizations in any way.
Well, with Odesk , you are already making sure that you aren’t.
Mafia and terrorist organizations never transfer their funds to their bank accounts. They prefer to transfer funds in an illegal process where no evidence is available in the future.
But with Odesk, a provider is provided with withdrawals with a 100% legal process.
How does Odesk protect the payments?
- First of all, Odesk verifies our bank accounts.
- Banks are also selective. You can’t transfer amount to any bank, you can only transfer your funds to specific banks.
- Providers can’t transfer their funds to someone else’s account. The account title must be yours exactly and would be already verified by Odesk
- Funds are being transferred with a legal process of Wire Transfer or Swift Transfer.
- Since funds are converted through Inter-bank rates, the provider’s bank already deducts government taxes.
- Other methods for transfer of funds also implement the same procedure. In fact, some of them even have stricter policies. For example, SKrill (Moneybookers) physically verifies your bank account and residential address by mailing a confirmation letter.
- Apart from that, if all of sudden a very large amount is credited to your account, your bank and investigation agencies investigate about this money to comply with international money laundering laws.
Pirates in Somalia for example have a huge mafia network. Their prime resource of money is to kidnap people and hijack ships.
Do some internet research and you will learn that in Somalia people select this as a full time career.
Sounds strange? Go for it and research.
But these pirates never asked a victim to transfer the ransom money to any bank account. They have alternate sources to get the money.
Why I am talking about this?
In a country like Somalia, law and order is not at its best. There is a lot of hunger and poverty.
There is no hold of the government in many areas and some people of Somalia think that it’s ethically correct to get into this kidnapping business and select it as a full time career.
But still they couldn’t transfer this amount into any bank account.
Hope that helps?
How can I know you tell the truth? There might just be a guy with a pistol forcing you to reply this way…!
Well, I was more laughing rather than shaking my head.
I don’t know how to answer this one.
I do know that in some countries law and order situation is bad.
But I don’t think a person who is working on a computer is running this kind of risk. Normally, freelancers of these countries are not natively English speaking and they have to take a reasonable amount of education to learn, read and write English.
If I took it personally, although I know that you don’t mean it personal to me :), I would think like this: “Why would someone do this to me? What are his interests?”
He would be pointing a gun to my head and ask me to reply an email by writing
“Hi Francis, Here is the update for today’s work…”
This does not make any sense!
Concluding the business ethics case study: Don’t ignore nor exaggerate the worst case scenario
What measures should you take before hiring a virtual assistant, to stay on the safe side?
Obviously, you should take the best available security measures before hiring a virtual assistant.
You can ask him about…
- his family background.
- his educational certificates.
- his personal references.
You can also ask the hiring service (oDesk, for example) how do they make this cooperation secured.
Additional security tips:
You can also do a video call to double check if you are talking to the same person and ask him critical questions live. This also makes sure you are not employing a minor by accident, for example.
Keep Away From Bad Business Ethics When You Are Involved With Outsourcing
Bad business ethics in a global market place are the number one factor that will destroy your chances of being successful with outsourcing or working as a freelancer.
The easy part of outsourcing is to get the work done as an employer or making the money as an employee.
The hard part as an employer is to have good outsourcing ethics so that you can sleep at night and be proud about what you do to your friends.
The hard part for a virtual assistant is to impress your employers with the high quality of your work and your loyalty so that they cannot help but
- promote you
- raise your salary
- and even hire you full time on their team
If you choose to do outsourcing without any business ethics, this will hurt your success both as an employer and as an employee.
Bad business ethics as an employer of virtual assistants
As an employer, you spend the money for results. But paying money does not free you from your responsibilities.
The best bottom-line attitude to have as an employer is to think of your workers as respectable experts that you have the opportunity to have gained as associates. Always think about how you both can win.
You’ll know that you have ethical issues as an employer if…
…you catch yourself thinking like this:
- Cool, I can hire a “slave” in India for 1$/hour!
- This work is crappy and boring to do. I’m not even sure it needs to be done, but my assistant is so cheap, let’s just have him do it.
- This damn VA is stupid and doesn’t understand me. I better yell at him real good!
- Bah, I’ll fire the guy. There are millions like him out there…
…or any condescending, egotistical thoughts towards your associates…
Re-think your strategy!
If you have this approach about outsourcing to virtual assistants.
If you continue to think this way, chances for success are slim for you.
The worst things you can do to your virtual employee
Your employee depends on his work for you and trusts you to treat him fair and square.
There are not much more ways to hurt your assistant, both financially and emotionally.
- Firing a person without further notice
This will leave him in the rain, and he’ll lose time trying to figure out what happened (he may assume that there was a technical glitch) or trying to convince you not to fire him.
- Lack of communication by not exchanging your thoughts with your virtual assistant
How can your VA learn how to best do the work for you if you don’t tell him? Take the time to instruct your VA of what you want.
It doesn’t even need to take that long: a quick video using screen recording software takes minutes and can clear up tons of misunderstandings instantly.
- Shouting or insulting your employee
You know this would be wrong if you had a person right in front of you.
Don’t go there. It’ll make you look weak and will lower your self worth. And it’s rock bottom even for bad business ethics.
What good are you as an employer if you raise your voice against someone working on the other end of the world? Especially if he or she comes out of e.g. an Asian culture, where politeness and respect is of highest importance?
- Badmouthing your VA
It’s perfectly possible to fire someone and leave him an unnecessary evil feedback to “get back at him”. You won’t gain from it.
It’s possible to hide excessively bad feedback on most outsourcing companies’ feedback scores. Also, you might be kicked off from the outsourcing service.
And honestly, do you want to kick off someone that might know lots about you, your business, and might escalate the revenge even further by attacking you back?
If you follow those bad business ethics when outsourcing, others will know:
oDesk, for example, also has a feedback system for employers, and you’ll run out of prospective co-workers if you are treating them badly.
Be good to your VA’s: They will reward you with excellent results
You will be pleasantly surprised how far a few nice words, some praise here and there and constructive criticism will bring you and your business. A loyal and motivated virtual assistant might be the biggest asset you’ll ever have.
Bad business ethics will always come to bite you in the end.
What if your virtual assistant has been bad?
Read how to cope with bad behavior from your virtual assistant.
Bad Business Ethics From Your Virtual Workers
Most freelancers from overseas will do great work for you. However, there always will be a bad apple among them from time to time. Read our advice from real experiences, how to handle virtual assistants with bad business ethics.
What bad stuff can happen
The closer you are working with virtual assistant, the more any possible bad business ethics from them towards you or your work can hurt you. A personal assistant can screw you over.
I had a personal assistant from India over several years. He knew a lot of personal information about me and we worked together very closely, more like friends than having an employer-employee relationship.
That was a mistake.
After some time he knew that he could ask for whatever he wanted and I was almost forced to go along with it. Because he knew how much I needed him for personal stuff which I outsourced, he started over charging me and asking unrealistic demands.
When I met my limits, I had to fire him. And we weren’t on very good terms after that.
A virtual assistant can stop working for you without any further notice. The only notice you will receive if you hire a worker via oDesk is a note that the contractor has left your team.
Don’t be surprise if that happens. It happened for me when I outsourced a very simple picture research task for a very modest amount of money. Probably after getting hired, this female freelancer decided that the job wasn’t worth awhile and she simply cut ties with me.
That can happen and it shouldn’t surprise you. Just be prepared to repeat the interview process again.
Miss commitment- over committing and not delivering at all
I had two cases where this happened.
In the first case I was looking for a virtual assistant that could speak and write English. I found a lady from the US who applied to me and went through a very thorough interviewing process.
I was thrilled because I found someone who I could use as a personal assistant with German language knowledge at a very, very competitive price. I didn’t care at that point that she didn’t have any oDesk history.
The emails we exchanged prior to working were also very long, so I knew she was committed. When I started working with her, I suddenly never heard of her again.
No matter how much I wrote her, she wouldn’t reply.
The second case where this happened was when I worked together with a personal assistant from the Philippines. She was doing a great job for me and we had a great working experience over almost a year.
After difference of opinions – I cannot even call it a fight – she stopped responding to my emails.
That’s when I learned the hard way that you have to treat many virtual workers from the Philippines extra carefully.
Another case of very bad business ethics is when a provider outsources the work you give to him further to other freelancers who you don’t even know without telling you.
Luckily this hasn’t happen to me or I didn’t find out about it. This is a real danger and you have to make sure that your private information or sensible data cannot land in false hands.
How to prevent bad experiences with your VA
Preparation is the key to avoid having a bad experience. Before hiring a virtual assistant, do your homework. Pre-screen each candidate very thoroughly, check their previous feedback.
That would tell you a lot about their attitude towards work. Then start out by giving them a very small test task. If for any reason your worker does not follow through, you haven’t lost much time. You can use the same test task over and over again.
If you are working with a virtual assistant for some time now, challenge him from time to time. Give him a piece of work that is a little bit harder. This will teach you a lot how your virtual assistant works under pressure.
Always and regularly check his work diary. Make use of the work diary that is provided by oDesk. Also let your virtual assistant know that you are regularly checking his work diary. This will keep him on his toes and focused on his work.
Ask for daily email updates. Insist that your virtual assistant lets you know about the progress of his work daily. Even if he does not have any work from you or does not do any work insist that he writes to you that what work he has done and what work he hasn’t done and for which reasons.
This will keep you in the mind of the virtual assistant all times and hopefully prevent him to develop any bad business ethics.
If your virtual assistant starts seriously slacking of anyways, give him a warning. Sternly let your virtual assistant know how you would react if they misused your trust. Inform them clearly and un-misunderstandably how you would react and which steps you would take if this virtual assistant would continue exhibiting bad business ethics.
Use the carrot and the stick strategy. As much as you must be stern and assertive towards your virtual assistant, you must show your kind side too. If your virtual assistant does great work from time to time, give him an additional bonus for his work.
When you do this, let him know exactly why they received the bonus. Be specific about what sort of work was excellent and what sort of attitude you are looking forwarded to in the future.
How to react if your VA shows bad business ethics
Give him one final warning!
If your virtual co-worker continues to screw you over, have him stop all work. Inform him that he needs to explain himself to you. Count up all the errors you have found in his attitude and ask for a clear explanation for each and every one of them.
Let them know that this explanation may very well decide about the future of this virtual assistant.
Why shouldn’t you fire the virtual assistant right away?
He is human too and can do some mistakes and if you have invested much time into working with him, then it is worth your while to try to get back on track. If this doesn’t work out, fire him and cut your losses.
If you do fire him there are some things that you quickly must do.
- If you have shared any important files with him via Dropbox, then remove any shared files from him.
- Change any shared passwords which you may have shared with him.
- After ending the assignment of the freelancer who repeatedly showed bad business ethics towards you, take the time to write honest feedback on oDesk. Be honest and don’t exaggerate. Clearly write down what was good and what was bad and why you ended the assignment.
- And if the virtual assistant has damaged you and your business with his bad business ethics, investigate how you can get a refund or complaint against the outsourcing company over which you have hired him.
Read more about Bad Business Ethics from the employer
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