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Our partner provider in Davao City recruits, employs, trains, supervises and replaces your agent, and bills you. You decide what the work is and approve the person before they start. Distal Desk writes the brief, introduces you, stays on the email thread and checks in each quarter. Your agent is a dedicated agent: one person who works only on your accounts, on your hours, in your tools, from the provider's office in Davao City, supervised by a team lead who looks after up to 15 agents. The first shift comes 5–10 working days after you sign the provider's service agreement.
Your agent's first shift comes 5–10 working days after you sign the provider's service agreement. Your part is a 20-minute call, the interviews and your training material; the provider recruits, hires and trains.
Day 0
1. Tell us the role, hours and tools
You and Distal Desk
Before assignment
2. Meet and approve candidates
The provider screens; you approve
Before the first shift
3. The provider trains them in your systems
The provider
5–10 working days after signing
4. Your agent starts; you see live reports
Your agent and the team lead
Book a 20-minute call. I turn your answers into a one-page brief: tasks, hours and time zone, tools, tone, and what a good week looks like.
The provider recruits and screens people for your brief. You interview them and approve one before anyone is assigned to you. If no one fits, say so.
Your agent learns your SOPs (standard operating procedures: your written steps for each task), your saved replies and your tone. You send the material, then answer questions and approve replies. Initial training is in the rate.
Your agent works your shift from the provider's Davao City office, supervised by the team lead. You get live reporting sheets, updated in real time, covering attendance, productivity, performance targets and campaign results.
The provider's team lead manages your agent day to day, and you decide what the work is. The provider employs your agent, pays their salary and benefits, and bills you; Distal Desk does not employ or manage anyone. The team lead replies to you usually the same business day.
| Task | You | Distal Desk | The provider and its team lead |
|---|---|---|---|
| Describe the role, hours and tools | Tell us on a 20-minute call | Writes the brief | Works from the brief |
| Introduce you to the provider | Not involved | Sends one introduction email within 24 hours | Confirms within 72 hours |
| Recruit and screen candidates | Interview and approve | Follows up if it runs late | Recruits and screens |
| Employ the agent: contract, salary, 13th-month pay, government contributions | Not involved | Not involved | Employs and pays |
| Train the agent in your tools | Send your documents, then approve | Not involved | Trains your agent |
| Check the agent's work | Read the live reports | Not involved | Supervises; reports update in real time |
| Set policies and answer edge cases | Decide | Not involved | Brings questions to you |
| Replace the agent if they leave | Pay nothing for the empty seat | Follows up | Recruits the replacement at no charge |
| Bill you each month | Pay the provider's invoice | Never bills you | Bills you one month in advance |
| Quarterly check-in | Say what works and what does not | Emails or calls you | Not involved |
| Raise a problem | Tell the team lead, or tell me | Takes it to the provider and follows up | Answers and acts on it |
This is outsourcing (paying another company to do work for you) and offshoring (the work is done in another country); the industry calls it business process outsourcing (BPO). The model is closest to staff leasing, also called employee leasing: the provider employs the agent, and you direct the work. It is not staff augmentation, where a firm adds contract workers to your team and you manage them, and not an employer of record, where you find and manage the person and the other company only runs their contract and payroll. Here the provider also recruits, trains and supervises, and your agent is not shared with other clients.
For a side-by-side view, read a managed office team vs OnlineJobs.ph vs a local hire. The rate and terms are on the pricing page.
In weeks one and two you send your documents, answer questions and approve your agent's work. From week three you stop training, re-explaining and checking every reply. I write this plan into your brief; agree it or change it with the provider before day one.
| When | You | Your agent and the team lead |
|---|---|---|
| Before day one | Send your SOPs and saved replies. Share logins through your password manager, so you control access. | Your agent is trained from your documents. |
| Day one | Explain your queue, your tricky customers and your tone, on a call or in writing. | Your agent takes notes and asks questions. |
| Days two to five | Answer questions in one shared channel. | Your agent drafts replies for you to approve. |
| Week two | Approve changes to saved replies and policies. | Your agent works your live queue under the team lead's supervision. |
| Week three onward | Read the live reports when you like. | Your agent runs the queue; the team lead supervises and keeps the reports current. |
Within 24 hours of our call, or of my reply if we skip the call, I send one introduction email to you and the provider, and the provider confirms it within 72 hours. You are copied on every email, so you always see where your request is.
I ask about the role, hours, tools, start date and budget. If a dedicated agent is the wrong fit, I say so.
I email you and the provider together, with the provider's named representative copied, and say it is an introduction under my agreement with the provider. It lists how many agents you need, which channels, which shift and when you want to start.
The provider confirms on the same thread. If it was already talking with you, it says so and I step back.
Your contract is with the provider, not with Distal Desk. The billing, notice and replacement terms are on the pricing page.
I email or call you to ask what is working. If something is not, I take it to the provider and follow up.
Already talking to the provider? Tell me on the call. I will not register you as my introduction, and you can deal with the provider directly.
I am paid a commission by the provider for clients I introduce. The provider bills you at the rate shown on this site. The full explanation is on the How I'm paid page.
If your agent leaves, the provider recruits a replacement at no charge, in 3–5 working days on average, for as long as you are a client. You are not billed for the empty seat in the meantime.
The provider starts recruiting, and I follow up with the provider.
You interview candidates before your first agent is assigned. Whether you also interview the replacement is not yet confirmed; ask on the call.
Training uses the documents you already sent, so you do not start from scratch.
In 3–5 working days on average. Who covers your queue during the gap is not yet confirmed; ask on the call.
Why do agents leave in the first place? Read why your virtual assistant keeps quitting, and what a replacement really costs.
Tell me the role, the hours and the tools. I will tell you plainly whether a dedicated agent fits, and what it costs.