Is it ethical to hire offshore?
Short answer: yes, if you do it properly. Here's how I think about it — and why I also hire Aussies.
This is the question most Aussies quietly wonder about and never ask. So I’ll answer it properly.
The concern usually goes one of two ways. Either “am I exploiting someone in a developing country by paying them $10/hr”, or “am I taking work away from Australians”.
On the offshore question
$10/hr in the Philippines isn’t $10/hr in Sydney. The median monthly wage in Manila is around AUD $700–900. A good offshore VA working 40 hours a week for me clears AUD $2,400–3,500 a month. That’s three to five times the local median. They work from home, set their own hours, and most are running their own small business with multiple clients.
That’s not exploitation. That’s a great job by their standards. The thing that wouldbe exploitative is paying them $3/hr, paying late, ghosting them, or treating them like a cog. I don’t do any of that and neither should you. Pay properly, pay on time, treat them like a team member, and you’re fine.
On the “taking jobs from Aussies” thing
Two parts to this. First: I also hire Aussies. I’ve got an Aussie videographer I found on Airtasker, and I use Aussie freelancers for anything that needs to happen on the ground. Hiring offshore for some tasks doesn’t mean you stop hiring locally — it usually means you hire more people overall because the business can finally grow.
Second: if I didn’t hire offshore for the $10/hr admin and editing work, I wouldn’t hire an Aussie to do it at $50/hr. I’d just keep doing it myself badly. The work either gets offshored or it never gets done — that’s the actual choice.
The honest version
Treating people well is the ethical bar. Not the country code on their phone number.
Pay properly, communicate clearly, give them growth, and you’re running a good business. Pay poorly, ghost them, treat them like a machine, and you’re not — whether they’re in Cebu or Coffs Harbour.