How we pay
Where every dollar goes.
Ask any agency how much of your money reaches the person doing the work. Most will not answer. Here is ours, line by line, at our $1,800 entry rate.
The breakdown
You pay $1,800. This is what happens to it.
| Where it goes | What it pays for | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Your assistant | Paid straight to them every month. We never take more than 30 percent, and often less | $1,260 |
| Running costs | Their software and tools, finding and vetting them, and their share of a manager and the office | $362 |
| Bank and currency fees | Card processing, and moving money from your currency into theirs | $45 |
| What we keep | What is actually left over. It is thinner than you might expect, and that is the point | $133 |
At our $1,800 entry rate, converted at 58 pesos to the dollar. Our cut is a percentage, so the share reaching your assistant is identical at every price. Figures move a little with the exchange rate.
The benefits option
If you add 20 percent, this is where it goes
Standard rate: contractor, funding their own contributions. Add 20 percent and we employ them. On an $1,800 General VA that is $360 a month. Here is the whole of it.
| Where it goes | What it is | Pesos | Dollars |
|---|---|---|---|
| SSS | Social Security, the employer share | ₱3,530 | $61 |
| PhilHealth | National health insurance, the employer share | ₱1,827 | $31 |
| Pag-IBIG | The housing fund, capped at ₱200 | ₱200 | $3 |
| 13th month pay | Set aside monthly so December is not a scramble | ₱6,090 | $105 |
| Health card | A basic HMO premium. Not statutory. We include it anyway | ₱1,500 | $26 |
| Total cost | What we actually pay out | ₱13,147 | $227 |
You pay $360. It costs us $227. We keep the difference, about $133. That pays for running payroll, filing contributions on time, and being the employer of record when something goes wrong. The last one is the actual work.
Two things that are not obvious. SSS and Pag-IBIG are capped. As salary rises, the benefits cost stops rising with it. On our top track the uplift is $570 and the cost is $300, a better margin for us than the entry rate. We would rather say that than pretend the pricing is uniform.
And a contractor is not a lesser arrangement, it is a different one. Most skilled assistant work here is contract work. It pays more in the hand each month because nothing is deducted. What it does not build is a contribution record. Which suits a person is their call, and we ask before we place them.
The short version
Seventy percent reaches your assistant
Your assistant receives $1,260 of your $1,800. That is 70 percent of what you pay.
We never keep more than 30 percent, and for an experienced assistant often less. A ceiling we hold ourselves to, not a number that moves when it suits us.
The industry norm is nearer 30 percent to the assistant. On a $3,000 fee, they see about $900 and the agency keeps the rest.
We would rather win good people on pay than on sales patter. So we take a smaller cut than we could, and we tell you what it is.
Our profit line is thin. That is deliberate while we are getting started, and a real number beats a flattering one.
You are welcome to hold us to it.
What that buys
Why paying properly is not charity
People stay
Replacing an assistant costs you months of context. Someone paid well and treated properly has no reason to leave. That is worth more than a lower invoice.
Better people apply
Pay near the top of the local market and you meet candidates the cheap agencies never see.
Nobody is cutting corners
Underpaid assistants take second jobs. Two roles at once, and both clients get half a person. Paying properly is the simplest way to stop that.
The floor
Why we will not go below $1,800
Look at the running costs line again: $362 a month. It barely changes whether a role sells for $1,800 or $2,850. Same software. Same hours to find the right person.
Drop the price and that cost comes from somewhere. Below $1,800 it stops coming out of our profit and starts coming out of the assistant’s pay.
Below $1,800 we would have to drop the assistant to around twice the local minimum wage for skilled professional work. Plenty of agencies do exactly that. We will not.
That is the floor. If it makes us dearer than someone else, now you know what the difference buys.
Have a need? aVAssist.
Now you know exactly what you are paying for.