Remote work is on the rise: Meet the company that is championing the Pinoy remote worker

A new kind of “Pinoy bayani” (Filipino hero) is rising. Instead of seeking work abroad as OFWs, many Filipino workers are staying at home, employed as remote workers. Jobs as a remote worker can be as diverse as programmers to personal assistants, accountants to SPED teachers. And such remote work can be ideal for Generation Z, who value flexibility in how and where they choose to work.

Championing these new Pinoy bayanis and the rising trend of remote work is one of the country’s hottest startups, Remotify. The company was founded in 2021 and today has grown to $1.4 million gross merchandise value — which, in Remotify’s case, translates not to any tangible merchandise but to topline revenue, or, simply put, pasahod (salaries) for all their remote workers.

I recently spoke to Remotify’s co-founder and CEO, Maria Sucgang, in my podcast. For her, the startup is all about serving remote workers, which is the seed idea for Remotify. “How can we create a workplace that’s not an actual place, but anywhere employees feel valued, connected, and cared for?” she asks. In our conversation, we tackled how Remotify helps both remote workers and international companies looking to build teams in the Philippines.

FREEDOM AND SECURITY FOR PINOY REMOTE WORKERS
In a nutshell, Remotify is an employer of record firm. For those unfamiliar with the term, Ms. Sucgang explains, “What we do is we help international businesses to extend their runway by building remote teams in the Philippines.”

For these international businesses, the lower costs of employing remote teams are clear. And working with a company like Remotify further lowers costs in Human Resources.

For Pinoy remote workers, Remotify gives them security and dignity in their work. Ms. Sucgang explains, “A lot of Filipinos working remotely are usually unregistered employees without employers on record.” These workers usually work without contracts, without SSS, PhilHealth, or Pag-Ibig benefits and can often be fired at any time.

“You can’t even get a loan,” she continues. “You don’t have a payslip, you don’t have an ITR, right? So how can you even buy a house, get a car, or be approved for a loan?”

Remotify provides a win-win solution for both international companies and remote workers. International companies benefit from cost savings and the work of skilled Filipino remote workers. Meanwhile, remote workers who sign up with Remotify get the freedom and flexibility to work remotely. At the same time, they receive all the rights and privileges of an employee while having HR support to help them thrive.

REMOTE WORK ON THE RISE
Recently, Remotify has been racking up awards for its breakthrough work. It’s been a certified Great Place to Work since 2022, Outsource Accelerator named it Best in Diversity and Inclusion in 2023, and the company was selected as one of four companies to represent the Philippines at the Coalition Conference in Toronto.

Returning to remote workers, Remotify continues to recruit more and more knowledge workers across the Philippines. “We have had employees spanning the Philippines from Benguet to Sultan Kudarat,” Ms. Sucgang said, “77% of whom are women, all knowledge workers.”

STARTUP CHALLENGES
The journey of Remotify wasn’t an easy one. It began when Maria Sucgang was working for a UK-based telco tech startup where she met Remotify’s other co-founder, Erwin Kok.

Working as the global head of service experience with some of the world’s top companies, she had teams in the Philippines, Hong Kong, Poland, Portugal, and the UK. It was this experience that led her to the idea behind Remotify.

“What we do at Remotify,” she explains, “is we really bring together better remote employees and better remote managers who build better businesses because better businesses create more jobs for a lot of people.”

From there, Ms. Sucgang and Mr. Kok rolled up their sleeves and began their startup, bootstrapping the business until they received funding to expand in new directions, but always with an eye on helping their clients and remote workers.

“When we’re designing from a perspective of a client, we know that as a startup founder, one thing you don’t want to be wasting your time on is the wrong hire, handling people problems, taking care of payroll or thinking if your remote team is still engaged with you,” Ms. Sucgang says, “So those are the times when you want to have a great team behind you.”

THE FUTURE OF REMOTE WORK
With all the changes in the global landscape and in technology, Ms. Sucgang is aware that more challenges lie ahead. For entrepreneurs like her, she advises to always be aware of macro trends.

She says, “At Remotify, we understand that humans and [AI] agents will work together soon. And therefore, we need to build a business towards that, where we recognize that the future of work is remote for all kinds of workforce, including agents. And so build towards that, but also at the same time, look at the macro trends.”

For Ms. Sucgang, the success of Remotify and its success in the future has been about taking calculated risks. She says, “You’ve got to practice faith and hope, right? But don’t go in blindly. Don’t go in without a plan. Take calculated risks.”

RJ Ledesma () is a Hall of Fame Awardee for Best Male Host at the Aliw Awards, a multi-awarded serial entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and business mentor, podcaster, an Honorary Consul, and editor-in-chief of The Business Manual. Mr. Ledesma can be found on LinkedIn, Facebook and Instagram. The RJ Ledesma Podcast is available on Facebook, Spotify, Google and Apple Podcasts. Are there entrepreneurs you want Mr. Ledesma to interview? Let him know at [email protected].