How we work

Three ways
in. One
we prefer.

You can hire the person off us outright, you can let us run the whole thing, or you can start with us and buy them out later. Most people should pick the middle one — and we'll tell you plainly why.

Book a discovery call Written quote in 24 hrs
MODEL 01

Recruit

One-time placement fee. Then they're yours.

  • We source, screen and shortlist
  • Five-stage vetting, scored and documented
  • You interview and choose
  • They join your payroll directly
  • Replacement guarantee in the first 90 days
  • Single fee, nothing ongoing to us

Good if you already have HR, payroll and a manager with time. Rough if you don't — see below.

Talk recruitment
What we recommend MODEL 02

Managed

Monthly. We carry the headache, you get the output.

  • We employ and pay them, not you
  • Payroll, statutory contributions, compliance — ours
  • Laptop, backup internet, security tooling — ours
  • Named ops lead, SOPs, week-one onboarding
  • Backup cover for leave and sick days
  • Free replacement if the match is wrong
  • Month-to-month, short notice period

Good if you want the work done — not a second job managing an employee across a border.

Get matched
MODEL 03

Buyout

Start managed. Bring them in-house when you're ready.

  • Written into every managed contract
  • Convert to your direct employee at any point
  • Fee scales down with time already placed
  • Reaches zero after a defined tenure
  • Every SOP they wrote comes with them
  • No exit games, no hard feelings

Good if you want to work with someone properly before committing to employ them.

Ask about buyouts

Straight talk

Why we'd
rather you
outsourced
it to us.

We'll happily take a recruitment fee. It's the easiest money we make. But we've watched enough direct placements go sideways to be honest about what happens after the handshake.

When you employ someone in the Philippines directly, you inherit all of it: payroll and statutory contributions in a jurisdiction you don't know, 13th month pay, the equipment, the internet redundancy, the day they're sick and nobody covers, the resignation you didn't see coming — and the recruitment starting over from zero.

On the managed model that's our problem. You get one invoice and one person doing the work. If they leave, fixing it is our cost, not yours — which is also exactly why we're motivated to keep them happy.

Recruitment is a transaction. Retention is a relationship. We're better at the second one, and it's the one that decides whether this actually works for you.

That said: if you have a real HR function and you'd rather own the employment relationship, take the recruitment option. It's cheaper over a long horizon and we won't try to talk you out of it twice.

Side by side

Who carries
what.

RECRUIT — YOU CARRY
  • Payroll & statutory compliance
  • Equipment & internet backup
  • Day-to-day management
  • Cover for leave and sick days
  • Retention, raises, resignation risk
  • Re-recruiting when they leave
MANAGED — WE CARRY
  • Payroll & statutory compliance
  • Equipment & internet backup
  • Ops lead, SOPs, onboarding
  • Backup cover built in
  • Retention, raises, replacement
  • Re-recruiting at our cost, not yours

In both models you direct the work, set the priorities and own the output. The only difference is who owns the employment headache.

The obvious question

So what
does it
cost?

Genuinely depends — and a number on a web page would be wrong for most of the people reading it. Here's what actually moves it:

FACTOR 01

Scope & seniority

An inbox and calendar assistant and a delivery project manager are not the same hire, and shouldn't cost the same.

FACTOR 02

Hours & shift

Part-time, full-time, and whether the shift lands inside your working day or the middle of their night.

FACTOR 03

Specialist skills

Bookkeeping, licensed transaction coordination and technical delivery carry a premium. So does deep fluency in your stack.

FACTOR 04

One person or a team

A single assistant, or a cross-trained pod with a lead and shared coverage.

What you get instead of a price list: a 20-minute call where we scope the role properly, then a written quote within 24 hours — with the recruitment, managed and buyout numbers side by side so you can compare them yourself.

Book the call

Commercial questions

Before
the call.

Why don't you publish prices?
Because the honest answer depends on the role, the seniority, the shift and the model you pick. A published number is either wrong for most people, or padded high enough to be safe for us. Neither is a good start. We scope it on one call and put it in writing the same day — we don't do the thing where the price arrives after four meetings.
Is the discovery call a pitch?
It's a scoping call. Twenty minutes, no deck. If a VA isn't the right fix — sometimes the answer is automation, or killing a process outright — we'll say so.
Can I switch models later?
Yes, and people do. The common path is managed first, then a buyout once you know the person and you're ready to employ them directly. Going the other way — recruit first, then asking us to take over management — works too.
How does the buyout actually work?
It's a clause in the managed contract, agreed up front so there are no surprises later. You give notice, pay the buyout, and they transfer to your payroll with every SOP they've written. The fee scales down with how long they've been placed with you, and after a defined tenure it's zero — you're not renting a person forever.
What's included in the monthly fee?
Their pay at above-market Philippine rates, payroll and statutory contributions, laptop and backup internet, security tooling, your named ops lead, backup cover for leave, and replacement if it isn't working. One invoice, no add-ons.
Are there setup or onboarding fees on the managed model?
No. Nothing is billed until your assistant's first working day, and meeting candidates is always free.
What if it isn't working?
On managed, tell us and we replace them at our cost. On recruitment, the placement is guaranteed for the first 90 days — if they leave or don't work out, we re-run the search once at no charge.
How do I pay?
Card, ACH or bank transfer. Managed is billed monthly in advance; recruitment is billed on the assistant's start date. Invoices come from Handoff Virtual Assistants with everything your bookkeeper needs.

Twenty
minutes.

Tell us the role, we'll scope it, and you'll have all three numbers in writing by tomorrow. No pressure, no sequence, no "just bumping this".

Book a discovery call