Frugal Pinoy

Today I read this article from ABS-CBN News about Filipinos who work from home or ‘telecommute’.  The article lacked some depth - since they only tackled what the subjects earned each month and a basic description of what work they do. Plus, telecommuting isn’t a “line of work” like the article stated.  That’s like saying “going to the office” is a line of work!  Telecommuting is just one method of working that can be used across several industries.  My “line of work” is writing, and I happen to do most of it online.

Here is a much better definition of telecommuting from WiseGeek (although I prefer the term ‘teleworking’):

Telecommuting, also known as teleworking, is the act of working from a remote location, usually one’s home. This is made simple with the use of various telecommunications technologies such as a telephone, fax machine and the internet.

As a telecommuter myself, I feel like a have a clearer perspective on the financial (and other) benefits of telecommuting.

Almost no transportation costs. If I worked in Makati and commuted there every working day, I would spend over P120.00 daily commuting, which would be roughly P2,400 a month. (But that’s cheap commuting, not a taxi.)

Lower food costs.  I don’t have to worry about where to buy my lunch - I simply make it at home.  Generally, making your own food costs much, much less than dining out.  Of course, if you work in a traditional office, the alternative to eating out is baon.

No new clothes needed.  I work in my pambahay - shorts and a loose shirt, or, on cold months, in my pyjamas or jogging pants.  I have some semi-casual attire just in case, but I never use it.

Less chance of getting sick.  Since you don’t go out and inhale the metro pollution, or get headaches from looking at Bayani Fernando’s Metro Gwapo posters, telecommuting gives you better chances of leading a healthier lifestyle - but it greatly depends on your own habits and location. Of course, there’s also such a thing as indoor pollution, but at least you’re not stuck in a cramped office that makes you susceptible to getting viruses from coworkers - especially during floods and rain.  Plus, you’ve got more time to spend on exercising and making an effort to eat healthy.

You get paid via your output, not the time you spend in the office.  Online work tends to be results-oriented rather than time-oriented (I discussed the difference between the two here).  For example, if your work for the day can be done efficiently in 3 hours, then it takes 3 hours.  Unlike in the office, where, if you go home after 3 hours, you look tamad. You need to stay in your office within your respective shift, regardless of what you do within that time.

In the ABS-CBN News article, they mostly talked about how much each telecommuter earns per month.  Which I find to be really shallow, since it doesn’t take several factors into account. If an office worker spends 40 hours a week on the job and earns P10,000 for that week, is that the same as a telecommuter who works 20 hours a week and earns P10,000 also?  Of course not.  The telecommuter would be earning more per hour of work than the office worker, since the telecommuter spends less time working to earn the same P10,000.  This is why I prefer per hour quotes for telecommuters, not per month.

Of course, some telecommuters I know work longer hours than office workers, but it depends on how much work you take in, how much money you need, and how efficient you are.

If you’re an online freelancer, you can charge in dollars, using internationally competitive rates.  My highest paying jobs pay roughly $50/hour, and the lowest paying jobs pay approximately $10 - and I know I have the capability to earn much more than that in the long run. Getting paid in dollars helps, because whenever the dollar outperforms the peso (like recently it almost went back to $1=P45) the peso equivalent you receive rises, which makes inflation hurt less.

The other bonus is you can also charge based on the quality of your work.  The woman mentioned in the article said that she earns P300 per page for each essay she writes for Americans, which, I think, is very low- unless you’re just starting out.  Even if we’re Filipinos, we shouldn’t quote international clients based on Filipino standards -we should quote closer to their standards.

You can have multiple streams of income. This mostly applies to online freelancers, but employees who are allowed by their bosses to work from home can also do this if they have spare time.  The thing is, when you work from home, this gives you more flexibility to have a variety of projects going on.

Apart from being an online writer, I also sometimes get design gigs, and earn some money from ad revenues in other blogs I own. My clients are also varied, so in case one of them close up shop, I have other clients that give me a more secure income.

These are the basic benefits of working from home, for me at least.  I think working from home is 90% of the reason why I am able to do well financially (the other 10% is my frugality).

Have you ever considered telecommuting? If so, how is it going for you?  Are you really earning and saving more money?   If not, what is keeping you from telecommuting?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, August 16th, 2008 at 3:02 pm and is filed under Earning and Income. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.