John Jonas shares stories of where his Filipino virtual assistants have worked: inside a McDonald's ball pit, on tricycles and buses, even in cemeteries. Internet signal and cramped homes force workers into creative spots, though many are building proper home offices. He advises employers to check a VA's internet strength and desk setup before hiring.
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Episode 148
Inside a McDonald's ball pit.
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Welcome to the Secret Sauce of Outsourcing podcast that's dedicated to making you better at working with OFS. This is episode 148, the Strangest Places your OFS have Worked. So in most places, and especially in the Philippines now, pandemic restrictions are starting to loosen up. Here in the US they're basically gone now, but the Philippines has not been as quick to open up as the US has been, and their restrictions are lessening. They still have restrictions, but people are at least able to travel finally. And so a lot of OFs are starting to travel. They're starting to take leave for vacation. Or sometimes they don't take leave, they're just traveling. So my OFS Jamie opted not to take vacation leave when she recently took a month to go visit her husband's family on another island. It turns out she can work from anywhere and this is what she wrote for this she says, I've been working as an ofs for around 10 years now, and I have worked in many weird places. I have OFS friends who have worked in odd places as well. In my case, the weirdest place I have worked was in a ball pit at a McDonald's. So I'm just taking an aside here. I remember when this happened because she told me about it when it happened. My daughter was attending a birthday party and I needed to get work done. I don't know why, but the ball pit was the place that had the best mobile data signal. A grown woman typing on her laptop in the middle of a ball pit with kids running around draws attention. Good thing the other parents more or less understood that I was working. I managed to keep doing that until the party was over. My husband can sometimes be caught working at parties too. He's just more subtle because he can do some work on his phone. Her husband also works for me, she continues. I have friends who have worked on tricycles, buses, boats, and jeepneys. A tricycle, I think I covered this in another episode, but it's a they call it a trike. It's a motorcycle with a sidecar on it, and it's used for public transportation. Not like a little tiny pedal tricycle, she says. I've seen Filipino vas work in cemeteries, coffee shops, airports, bus terminals, seaports, etc. She says. As I'm writing this, I'm working from the dirty kitchen, an outdoor kitchen some Filipinos homes have where most of the cooking is done. There's someone doing laundry just a few steps away. Don't worry, we rarely work in ball pits Cemeteries and public transport. It's only when we have something urgent that comes up. Thank goodness smartphones are so functional now because carrying our laptops everywhere is unwieldy. Working in the kitchen, bedroom, garage, or laundry area is more common. Most of us live in tiny homes, so it's hard to carve out a dedicated workspace. Where in the house we can work is often dictated by two things. Is the Internet good in the area of the house number one and two? Can a computer and a person fit in it? So we often end up working in the common areas, she says. When I first started working from home, I would work in the kitchen or living room After I had been in OFS for more than five years. That's when my husband and I started investing in room dividers, computer tables, and chairs to make it more comfortable to work. So we now have home offices. Well, home office space in the corners of our living room and kitchen. I got to say, I got to stay where there's good wi fi. This is one of the things that I didn't think about for a while after I hired someone. Like, where are you working? Are you working at your kitchen table? Because that's what's available to you. And then I've watched my team, as they've worked for me over the years, progress more and more and create home offices and create specific spaces dedicated to their work. And then we've helped some people sometimes set these things up. And Internet connectivity is definitely better now than when I started outsourcing the Philippines, but it's still a daily part of their life. It's a large portion of their income, comparatively, and it affects how they can work. Like, do you have good signal? If you don't, well, this isn't. It's. You can't work there. Maybe something that you want to talk to your people about. How much is your Internet? Do you have good signal at home? What Is there anything I could do to help?
