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In today’s fast-paced digital world, the rise of working remotely is rising quickly. One of the most number of populations virtual assistants based in the Philippines. Filipino Virtual Assistants have been known all over the world specifically in North America and Australia.
With the Philippines as the home of virtual assistants, it’s important for business owners to know the role of work-life balance with corresponding incentive programs. Filipinos value family and having an incentive program can greatly improve their productivity, well-being, and job satisfaction.
Check out our previous blog about building strong relationships with your Filipino VAs.
Work-Life Balance as a Remote Worker
Work-Life Balance is defined as the amount of time you spend doing your job compared with the amount of time you spend with your family and doing things you enjoy.
This simply refers to the balance between your professional responsibilities and personal activities and duties. This not only pertains to the number of hours you spend at work, but it is also about the quality of your time spent outside of it.
This can sometimes become a challenge for Virtual Assistants in the Philippines since they are working at home and the difference between work and personal space can sometimes be blurred.
What is a Filipino Work Culture?
You have to understand first the foundation of a Filipino work culture before you formulate a successful incentive program for them. The Filipinos, aside from having a deeply rooted love for their family, also have a strong work ethic and can go the extra mile in order to provide for their family. They have a great sense of family responsibility and community values.
Sometimes, if done more than usual, can lead to burnout and forgetting how to take care of their personal well-being. When hiring a virtual assistant, it is important to keep in mind these factors.
How does Work-Life Balance affect someone’s Productivity?
The term work-life balance has been around for quite some time, but how does it really affect someone’s productivity? Several studies have proven a positive and direct relationship between work-life balance and productivity.
When virtual assistants are given incentives and a chance to maintain a healthy balance between their personal and professional lives, they tend to show more engagement, focus, and efficiency during work hours. Incentive plans that focus on giving them this balance can help enhance their productivity. In effect, this will also help your business’ productivity in the long term.
Overall Well-Being and Job Satisfaction
Just like the people who work from the office, the people who are working remotely must also be given a work-life balance. This directly impacts their well-being and career enjoyment. An employee who’s overworked and not being happy with their work may lead to lower productivity. This might also lead to errors as they are not focused on their job.
In contrast, if your virtual assistant is in an environment where they feel valued and promotes work-life balance, this will generate positive mental health and job satisfaction.
This is very important, especially to Filipino virtual assistants who are working in their home office as they don’t have much interpersonal interaction with their co-workers.
Incentive Programs to Promote Work-Life Balance
In order to create an incentive program for your Filipino Virtual Assistants, this must be thought of carefully. You must understand first what are the needs and the challenges being experienced by your team and from there, design the incentive program to address these things. Here are some of the items to ideas to create an effective incentive program to motivate employees.
Continuous Learning - Offer opportunities for skill development and career growth. You must also consider letting them upskill and be a globally competitive virtual assistant. Your Startup Operations conducts regular monthly training to make sure that each employee is upskilled.
Flexible Schedule - The option to have a flexible schedule still depends on the tasks assigned to the virtual assistant. Having the flexibility to work ensures that they can still attend to their personal responsibilities, and at the same time, produce great outputs from their work. Most of the Filipino virtual assistants have families and responsibilities that they need to attend to and this will definitely be helpful as they juggle between different hats.
Technology Tools - Provide the team with extra equipment to make sure they get to boost their productivity. Your Startup Operations provide monthly incentives for the team from giving them an extra monitor to giving them power banks to ensure that they have power backup during hurricane season.
Clear Communication - Having a work-life balance not only pertains to the material things that you can give to your team. Having open communication with the team also fosters a healthy working environment. This also clears any misunderstandings about the tasks on their plate to make sure there is a timely turnout of their outputs.
Wellness Initiatives - As Filipino Virtual Assistants mostly work during night time, and work remotely, this has a tendency for them to have less time with their physical activities. Coming up with an incentive program that focuses on their well-being physically and mentally, can help the team start a healthier lifestyle that can also help with their focus and productivity at work.
Bonuses - Not only can you give monetary rewards, but you can also consider gifting them with gift cards so they can buy what they want.
Overall, having a work-life balance is a big contributor to employee satisfaction for your Filipino Virtual assistants. Having these incentive factors in mind can help your team prioritize their work-life balance and provide a direct positive impact on their productivity, job satisfaction, and overall well-being and quality of their personal lives.
By having an understanding of Filipino culture, you can get to formulate the right incentive program for your team. In the end, not only will your Filipino VA will benefit from it, but also your business.
Schedule a call with us today and see how we can help you and your business.