24 Nov 2025 · 3 min
John Jonas explains why paying salary instead of hourly signals real commitment to your outsourced team. He shares a listener email from Tamara about hiring two Filipina moms, showing how salaried positions build loyalty and let you invest in growing your business instead of just filling hours.
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing the things of your business. This is episode 229, paying hourly versus salary. It's a commitment thing. So when I got started outsourcing to the Philippines, I was really hesitant in part because the only option I had at the time, this is 2005, the only option I had was to pay a salary. I had to go through an agency. There was no other way to find people at the time. And. And so I had to pay this agency $750 a month. I didn't know that they were paying him $250 a month, but I was worried, like, I don't know if I can afford this. I don't know if I can keep them busy full time. I don't know if they're going to do good work. I had all these things and I know that you want to hire someone and pay them hourly. It's super low commitment. Paying hourly is easy for you. If they're not working, then that's not your problem. You don't really care. And it's just so much simpler that way. But paying hourly is also kind of a commitment to yourself that you're not super committed to growing your business. But paying a salary is kind of the opposite. It's a commitment to yourself that you will work on your business rather than in your business as that person needs work from you. It's a commitment to yourself that you're going to grow your business and you're going to be able to afford this person. It's a commitment to yourself that and to the person that you hire that you're going to keep this person busy. And it's a commitment to the person that you're hiring or which makes them want to commit to you. So I got this email recently from Tamara, who got more than just help because she made this commitment. Here's what she says. I just hired and I'm working with two Filipina moms. They both have kids. They both have two kids under age five. Found them on your site, which is onlinejobs.ph. she said, I'm really excited about this aspect of employing them. I never had biological children, although I wanted to. It made me really happy when one of my workers said she might have gaps in her screen time, which I explained to her I won't use because she's breastfeeding her 8 month old. I thanked her for being a good mom and told her that I value what she's doing for her children. That they are both moms supporting their children from home motivates me to make sure that I have enough for them to do. It also motivates me to grow my business so I can change the one who is starting part time to full time. Thank you for what you do, John. So happy to be supporting families overseas. Look, you're making a difference in people's lives when you hire people. And congratulations to Tamara for making a difference in these two moms lives and in their kids lives and in their parents lives, the grandparents. Because if they're not working for you from home, that means they're working out of the home. The grandparents are now raising those kids. It's just a different situation. You're making a difference. Congratulations for making the world a better place. If you're putting off hiring someone because of the commitment level, maybe it's that commitment that you actually need. The commitment to yourself that you're going to work on your business and work smarter with your business. The commitment to growing your business, the commitment to doing good in the world by affecting someone else's life for the better. There's so much good that goes into this commitment.
