Podcast episode (Ep. 253) by John Jonas about helping outsourced Filipino staff (OFS) cope with hot weather. Covers Philippine climate (hot, humid dry season and rainy season), cultural practices such as the siesta, employer actions (buying air conditioners, paying 13th month), costs and trade-offs (electricity expense vs. improved productivity), and concrete price/temperature figures mentioned by the speaker.
Questions this episode answers
March 7, 2023.
$435 total (reported by employer Ziv).
54 degrees Celsius (127 degrees Fahrenheit).
Approximately $7 to $30.
About $140 (starting price).
Chapters
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at outsourcing to the Philippines. This is episode 253, helping your OFS work through the heat. I don't know about where you live, but where I live right now it is full winter. And in fact, if you're watching this on YouTube, you're watching the video. Hopefully I'm going to show this to you. Last night we got six inches of snow at my house. It's amazing and beautiful and that is definitely not how it is in the Philippines. So in the Philippines, they go through two seasons. They go through a rainy season and then a dry season. And the dry season is hot and the rainy season is hot. And right now, right now it's the rainy season and they're preparing for the hot season because it's kind of right in between and the hot season is really hot. And so some employers are aware of this. So let me just tell you, I have an employer who I know, his name is Ziv and Ziv Raviv, he's from Israel and he said he bought his, one of his ofs, an air conditioner recently. In fact, he said, here's what he said. We paid the 13th month in December and my personal assistant got a new air conditioner. It cost us only $435 total. But her loyalty and hard work are priceless. So he paid her the 13th month and then I don't know if it was for Christmas or what it was for, but they bought her an air conditioner. Also, I heard the same thing from Bob a little while ago. So listen, it can get really, really hot in the Philippines. In 2022, the highest index it reached was 54 degrees Celsius, which is 127 degrees Fahrenheit. But it's worse than that because the Philippines is also super, super, super humid and so it feels hotter. So where I live, it's super dry and we'll get up to 100 degrees on occasion. Rarely, but it's dry and so it's bearable. Man, 100 degrees and super humid is just really not reasonable. It's. It's so hard to work like that. And this is why most homes in the Philippines have at least one electric fan. At least that's what Julia writes for me, is that they have at least one electric fan in some areas they'll have an air conditioner. It just depends on their situation. This is also one of the reasons why the siesta is a super common thing. In the Philippines, the siesta is an afternoon nap. They often sleep when it's just too hot to work. And so sometime in the afternoon, they. They just stop working. Things shut down, Everyone goes home, they go to sleep, and then they go back to work when the temperature's more tolerable. So I didn't know about this until she wrote about it. And then it also happens that my son is there in the Philippines, and he has been talking about this afternoon thing. He says in the afternoons, we missionaries do their personal study and prayer and whatever. In the morning, he says it's way more effective for us to get out in the morning and go talk to people and go teach, and then we come home in the afternoon and do those things, do the personal study and prayer and. And all that stuff that they're supposed to be doing, which is interesting because people are at. Are sleeping in the afternoon. So if you're like Ziv or Bob and you want to buy an air conditioner for your ofs, it will be really nice for them. Also, just be aware that electricity is expensive in the Philippines, and so talk to them about it first. We talked to our team about this a few years ago, and some said it would be nice. Some said, no, I don't want it because the electricity cost is just too much. So be aware of that. Things are pretty cheap in the Philippines for stuff like this. Like, fans start around like $7 or like $30. Can buy an air cooler for a small room. Air conditioners are more like. They'll start at, like $140, which is pretty similar to the US for like, a window air conditioner. It's still a pretty reasonable cost to help someone's conditions be much better, which might make them more productive. It might make their computer work better. There's a whole bunch of side effects for this.
