Full-time virtual assistant

A full-time virtual assistant works a set 40-hour week for one client, often via an offshore firm that runs payroll. Those fixed hours buy steady cover, deeper grasp of your process, and a level of continuity shorter deals cannot match.

Full-time is a measure of hours, not exclusivity. A dedicated assistant works for you alone. A full-time assistant commits 40 hours a week, and most offshore contracts bundle both, but you should scope and price the two separately.

Most full-time virtual assistants (VAs) sit inside a virtual assistant services arrangement run from the Philippines, India, or Latin America.

Payscale’s Philippines virtual assistant hourly-rate research puts Manila VAs near a USD 4 floor.

Managed contracts through Philippine Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) providers typically start at USD 8 per hour. A 40-hour week averages about 173 hours a month, so that floor lands near USD 1,385.

That is well under Western in-house benchmarks and clear of cheap labor territory. Buyers in 2025 look for 40 dedicated hours, a defined overlap window, and a written scope.

Contracts run monthly or quarterly, with a two-week probation and named key performance indicators (KPIs). The hours commitment is what you are buying, so put the number in writing.

Key takeaways

• A full-time virtual assistant commits 40 hours a week to one client, while a freelance VA splits time across several accounts.
• Full-time describes hours, not exclusivity; a dedicated assistant is a separate clause you negotiate on top.
• Managed Filipino full-time VAs run USD 8–15 an hour, or roughly USD 1,380–2,600 a month at 173 hours.
• Those 40 hours buy continuity — institutional memory, process ownership, and same-day turnaround shorter arrangements cannot promise.
• Under roughly 25 hours of real weekly workload, part-time or hourly usually costs less than a full week.

How it works

A full-time virtual assistant works a 40-hour schedule against a written scope, using your chat, docs, and project tools. You define deliverables and reporting cadence; the provider handles payroll, benefits, equipment, and cover when your assistant takes leave.

Scope splits into three buckets: administrative work like inbox and calendar, marketing tasks like social scheduling, and specialized lanes such as bookkeeping or Amazon store operations.

Most engagements open with a discovery call, a written scope, and a two-week trial. Once locked, your assistant joins standups and gets provisioned into Slack, Notion, or HubSpot.

Those 40 hours are not 40 hours of output — budget 5 to 8 hours a week for standups, quality checks, and rework in month one, and expect that overhead to fall by month three as standard operating procedures (SOPs) land.

Rates vary sharply by sourcing channel and by how many hours you commit. Freelance marketplaces sit at the bottom; managed BPOs bundle supervision, backup coverage, and compliance.

Our guide to the top 40 BPO companies in the Philippines is the shortlist most buyers start from.

Monthly figures are the hourly bands multiplied by 173 hours, the average month in a 40-hour week. Rates cross-reference Payscale’s Manila VA hourly-rate research, last updated July 2026, and current managed BPO listings.

Niche work in healthcare, legal, or finance adds roughly 15 to 20%. Half the hours rarely costs half the value — onboarding, quality checks, and context switching do not halve.

Examples

Full-time VA deployments differ mostly in what the 40 hours absorb. The shapes below are ones buyers commissioned through Philippines-based BPOs across 2024 and 2025, drawn from case studies and Outsource Accelerator partner conversations.

Amazon store admin. A US e-commerce brand hired a Manila full-time VA in 2024 for listings, inventory sync, and buyer messages. At 40 hours a week, cost landed near USD 1,400 a month, or about USD 8 an hour.

Executive support. A Sydney fintech founder hired a full-time VA through a Cebu BPO in 2024, covering inbox triage and calendar defense. She reports the assistant gave back 12 focused hours a week, about 30% of a 40-hour week.

Real estate ops. A US brokerage retained two Manila full-time VAs across 2025 for Multiple Listing Service (MLS) updates and lead nurture email. That is 80 combined hours a week, and agent admin time fell roughly 30% quarter over quarter.

Healthcare intake. A Texas telehealth clinic contracted three full-time Filipino VAs in late 2024 for insurance verification and patient scheduling. That is 120 hours of coverage a week, freeing licensed staff for clinical work.

Marketing operations. A UK software company embedded a full-time Manila VA in early 2025 to run HubSpot workflows. The founder cut two hours a day from her ops load within six weeks, ten hours back weekly.

When 40 hours is the wrong buy. Not every lane fills a full week. If your recurring workload runs under about 25 hours, part-time or hourly usually costs less and burns fewer management cycles.

Across these deployments, managed Filipino full-time VAs cluster at USD 6–12 an hour.

Related terms

Full-time VAs sit inside a wider vocabulary of remote support roles. The neighbors below mark the boundaries — where hours-based scope ends and seniority, vendor model, or geography takes over.

• Virtual Assistant: the parent category, covering part-time, freelance, and full-time remote support.
• Executive Assistant: senior-scoped support for founders, C-suite, or partners.
• Remote Work: the working model that makes any virtual assistant arrangement possible.
• Business Process Outsourcing: the vendor category most full-time VAs are staffed through.
• Offshore Outsourcing: cross-border sourcing, standard for Philippine and Indian VA hires.
• Back Office Outsourcing: the admin-heavy scope full-time VAs usually own.

Full-time VA scope brushes each of these without collapsing into any. A well-scoped assistant escalates deeper work as the brief grows.

FAQ

Common questions about full-time virtual assistants cluster around hours, pay, and how the commitment differs from freelance work. The answers below cover where VAs work, what Filipino VAs earn, and when exclusivity matters.

Do full-time virtual assistants work from home?

Yes. Most work from a home office or co-working space, covering their own internet and power backup. Some take the digital nomad route, moving between cafes across Southeast Asia.

How much do Filipino full-time virtual assistants make?

Managed BPO rates start near USD 8 an hour, or roughly USD 1,200–1,800 a month for a full 40-hour week. Independent Manila VAs sit lower, typically USD 4–7 an hour. Pay rises with seniority and specialization.

What skills should a successful full-time VA have?

Strong written English, calendar discipline, and comfort with Slack, Notion, and Google Workspace. Holding 40 hours also takes self-direction. See our note on effective communication.

How is a full-time VA different from a freelance VA?

A full-time VA commits 40 hours weekly to one client and follows their SOPs. A freelance VA splits time across accounts. Compare different VA specializations before you commit.

Is full-time the same as dedicated?

No. Full-time describes 40 hours a week; dedicated describes exclusivity to one client. Most managed offshore contracts include both, but ask for the exclusivity clause in writing rather than assuming the hours imply it.

Should you hire a jack-of-all-trades VA or a specialist?

A generalist covers wider scope but rarely masters one lane, so pick by your dominant task load and required depth.

Ready to scope those 40 hours? Browse vetted providers in the Outsource Accelerator directory.