Host John Jonas (Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast, Ep. 348) discusses typhoons in the Philippines and their relevance to employers who hire online Filipino specialists (OFS). He explains that the Philippines typically experiences about 20 typhoons per year, with a usual season from June to September, and cites severe historical storms (Typhoon Yolanda in 2013 killed over 6,000; a 1911 storm dropped 87 inches of rain over three days). Jonas describes regional variation in impact (Luzon and the Visayas commonly affected; Mindanao less so), typical effects on workers (power/internet outages, damaged homes), common employer responses (sending money to help rebuild), and advises employers not to avoid hiring from affected regions but to be prepared to support staff when disasters strike.
Questions this episode answers
About 20 typhoons per year.
June to September.
Over 6,000 people.
87 inches of rain over a three-day period.
Chapters
Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at working with OFS online Filipino specialists. This is episode 348, Typhoons in the Philippines. So as I record this, which it's right now, November typhoon season is on the way out. Typically in the Philippines, typhoon season is June to September. But I wanted to talk about it because it's an issue in the Philippines. The Philippines typically gets about 20 typhoons hitting the country each year. So just to put that in perspective, typhoon is the Pacific version of a hurricane. So in the US we talk about hurricanes. So hurricanes hit Florida and they hit the Caribbean and they hit the eastern seaboard of the US and in the Pacific, it's basically the same thing. We just call it a typhoon. Now in the Philippines, typhoons typically originate out in the Pacific Ocean and then they move eastward over the Philippines. They'll typically hit the central or the northern area of the Philippines. So in the Visayas or Bicol or northern Luzon are the areas where typhoons will typically hit. They don't often hit Mindanao or Davao, the southern part of the Philippines. With 20 typhoons hitting each year, some are obviously stronger than others. The Philippines is remarkably good at recovering from these. However, they still have really devastating events sometimes. So in 2013, over 6,000 people were killed by Typhoon Yolanda. And when this happened, it was a really big deal. Multiple people on my team were affected. We didn't lose anybody, but multiple houses were destroyed, entire communities were flattened. It was a really big deal. I was just looking at a Wikipedia page about this. In 1911, the wettest typhoon ever happened, which dropped 87 inches of rain in a three day period. Yeah, 87 inches. That's over two yards or two meters of rain in three days. Was that devastating? Yeah, that destroyed cities. So now how does this affect you and your workers? Well, it depends on where they are. So I have a lot of people in the southern part of the Philippines, in, on Mindanao, in David. And those people typically don't have a lot of effect from typhoons. They'll still have flooding, they still have lots of rain, but the destruction isn't common there. But I also have a lot of people in Cebu or in Iloilo or in other parts of Luzon. And yeah, they get affected when a typhoon hits their area. It's not always as destructive as these that I've talked about, but it always affects them. It always puts the. Makes the power go out for a few days, which means the Internet's out for a few Days, often houses will be damaged, communities will be hurt. When this happens, we typically send money. That's our typical reaction to it, is how can we help you rebuild? What can we do? Here's some money to help rebuild your house or to help rebuild your neighbors or to help out with whatever you need. Now, like I said before, the typical season for typhoons is like June to September. So for during the US Is winter. That's not really an issue. In spring, it's typically not an issue. It's usually an issue during the summer. And this last year was not particularly bad. But you just never know what's going to happen. So as you work with people in the Philippines, I don't suggest you try and avoid the regions where typhoons hit. I don't feel like it's worth the sacrifice of not finding the correct person for you just because they live in Bicol or wherever it is. I wouldn't pass on someone just because of where they live. You may not get a hurricane. You may not get a typhoon every year. It may not even happen every few years. It may be every five years that you'll get a typhoon that will affect them. It may not be terrible terrible, but it's going to affect them at some point. And so as an employer, you just need to be prepared for that and need to know this is an issue when you hire in the Philippines, at some point something's going to affect them. You can decide how that affects you. Is it a disaster for you, or is it an opportunity for you to help someone who is struggling, someone who would have struggled otherwise if you weren't there to help put them back on their feet, give them a job, have them have income, and have them have a means of supporting their family and their community because of the job that you're providing and you're there to help them when disaster strikes. So the Philippines is the most susceptible country in the world to tropical storms, to typhoons. But it doesn't have to be devastating to you, to the people that you hire. In fact, we rarely encounter problems because of it. But it is something to be aware of that.
