Executive Virtual Assistant Pricing: What to Expect in 2024

I've placed 500+ Filipino VAs into Australian and US executive roles since 2019. Seventy per cent of clients hire a second VA within six months. At $18–30 an hour—or $1,500–2,500 a month on retainer—the ROI is the fastest play in ops. The problem isn't finding one. It's knowing what you're actually paying for and whether you'll actually use them.

What is an Executive Virtual Assistant?

An EVA is a remote professional who handles the admin work that kills your productivity. Calendar. Emails. Project tracking. Travel bookings. Some do light bookkeeping or social media. They work 9-5 their time (Philippines), which is overlap with Australian mornings and US evenings. That's the whole game—async work that doesn't need real-time handholding, but does need someone who speaks English and won't ghost.

Why Executive Virtual Assistant Pricing Matters

People waste money here because they hire cheap and get chaos. They also waste money hiring expensive when $20/hour does the job. Your budget decision changes whether you get a trained bookkeeper or someone learning in real time. Gets the maths right and you'll actually use them. Get it wrong and you've got dead weight.

Key Tasks and Responsibilities of an Executive Virtual Assistant

What you're actually getting:

• Calendar Management: Scheduling, meeting prep, time zone wrangling, follow-up coordination.
• Email and Comms: First-pass triage, templated responses, priority flagging. They're a filter.
• Project Coordination: Task tracking in your system, status updates, stakeholder chasing, deadline flags.
• Data and Research: File organisation, basic analysis, competitor intel, lead research for sales.
• Social Media: Content scheduling, engagement monitoring, monthly reports. Batch work, not daily babysitting.
• Travel and Logistics: Flight bookings, hotels, itinerary, backup plans. They own the whole trip.

How to Hire an Executive Virtual Assistant

Three ways to do this:

• Direct. Post on local Filipino job boards (Kalibrr, LinkedIn Philippines). Slow. You interview 40 to find one good one.
• Freelance Platforms. Upwork, Fiverr. You pay platform fees (20–25%). Higher hourly rates to cover that. Fast for one-off work, expensive for full-time.
• BPO. ShoreAgents, Outsec, similar. We handle vetting, payroll, replacement if they disappear. Higher upfront cost, lower headache. Worth it if you want someone trained and reliable.

Process is basic: define what you need, screen 5–10 candidates, run a one-hour Zoom interview, trial them for two weeks. Done.

Cost Breakdown for Executive Virtual Assistants in 2024

Here's what you'll actually pay:

1. Hourly Rates

Philippine EVAs run $15–50/hour depending on experience. Entry-level: $15–18. Solid all-rounder: $20–30. Specialist (bookkeeping, design, copywriting): $30–50. Most of my placements sit at $22–28. That's where the skill-to-cost ratio peaks.

2. Monthly Retainers

If you want someone 20 hours a week, you'll pay $1,500–2,500 a month with a BPO, or $1,600–2,400 if hiring direct and handling payroll yourself. The BPO rate includes their margin, tax handling, and replacement guarantee. Direct hiring is cheaper but you're managing NBI clearance, 13th month pay (Philippine law), and HR if they get sick.

3. Project-Based Work

One-off project? $400–2,500 depending on scope. Database cleanup, competitor research, one-time content audit. Usually faster to just hire hourly for a month and see if you want to keep them.

4. Location and Experience

Clark Freeport VAs (where my team is based) aren't cheaper than Manila, but you get consistency—less turnover, better stability. A 5-year VA in Clark charges the same as a 2-year VA in Manila. Experience is the price driver, not postcode.

What Actually Moves the Price

• Track Record. Proven three-year stint? +$3–5/hour. Jumped jobs five times? Subtract.
• Specialisation. Bookkeeping, Xero, FB Ads, copywriting, design: +$8–15/hour. General admin: baseline.
• Volume and Retainer. Hire someone 40 hours a week, negotiate. Hire 5 hours a week, pay list rate.

Why Filipino Virtual Assistants Work

Three reasons:

1. Cost

A competent Filipino EVA costs $22/hour. A Sydney bookkeeper costs $60. For the same work, you save 60 per cent and get someone hungry. Philippine cost of living means they're making good money at rates that are cheap for you.

2. English and Work Ethic

Philippines ranks top five globally for English proficiency. No translation lag. And the cultural default is loyalty—they stay if treated fairly. Turnover with quality hires is lower than Australian casual workers.

3. Time Zone

They work evenings your time. You get next-morning turnaround on everything. That's worth the $5–10/hour you'd pay extra anyway.

Tools to Actually Use with Your VA

• Slack: Async messages, handoff, daily stand-in. Not calls—they don't scale.
• Notion or Asana: Task management. You write the list once, they execute, you see status live.
• Zoom: Weekly sync, Friday debrief. That's it. No daily meetings.
• Zapier/Make: Automate the stuff they'd do manually. Removes grunt work, frees them for thinking.
• Loom: Record process videos once, they follow. Beats explaining 20 times.

The Real Maths

If you're making $100/hour and you hire a VA at $25/hour, you need that VA to free up three hours a week minimum. Most good ones free up five. That's $375–500 a month in recovered time. Your cost? $2,000–2,500 a month. Payback: four weeks. That's why repeat hiring works—clients see the numbers immediately.

Start with 10 hours a week, trial two weeks, commit to two months, then decide if you go full-time. You'll know in month one if it's right.

If you want to talk through what an EVA would actually do for your business, grab a time with our team or check the pricing page to see the options. We place them at ShoreAgents every week.