The 30-60-90 Day Filipino VA Onboarding Plan (Free Template)

Why the First 90 Days Make or Break the Hire

Most failed Filipino VA engagements fail not at interview, not at test task, but in onboarding. The gap between employers who get 3–5 years out of a great hire and those who cycle through three VAs in six months is almost entirely upstream — in the 90-day window after the offer is signed.

This is a structured, tested plan you can use on day one. It covers daily cadence, weekly milestones, and specific tasks for each 30-day block. Paired with our remote team management guide, it turns an unknown hire into an autonomous operator by day 90.

Before Day One: Setup Checklist

Finish these before the VA starts — otherwise week one is chaos:

• Signed contractor agreement covering scope, rate, hours, payment method, IP assignment, confidentiality, and termination notice. Free templates are available online; see our contractor legal guide.
• Payment method confirmed (Wise or Payoneer account verified on both sides).
• Password manager set up (1Password or Bitwarden team account with the VA invited, specific credential access scoped).
• Slack/email/communication tools granted. VA has your standard chat tool before day one.
• Core tool access to the platforms they'll work in (CRM, Shopify, Gorgias, etc.) — role-limited permissions, not admin.
• Starter SOP folder — a Notion or Google Drive folder with your 3–5 most important process documents and 2–3 Loom walkthroughs.

Days 1–30: Context & Observation

Goal

The VA absorbs your product, voice, customers, and workflow. They complete low-risk tasks in draft form for your review. No customer-facing or business-critical output goes live without supervision.

Day 1 — Welcome & Context

• 30–45 minute kickoff call. Share your story, the business, their role. Record it in Loom so they can rewatch.
• Walk through the SOP folder, password manager, and daily communication tools.
• Set up the daily standup format (15-minute Slack update or a short morning call).
• Assign one tiny task due by end of day — confirms access works, builds early momentum.

Week 1 — Daily Check-ins

• 15-minute daily video standup at start of their shift.
• End-of-day summary in Slack: 3 bullets on what they did, what's blocked, what they learned.
• VA works on sandbox or dummy data where possible. All customer-facing work is drafted, not sent.
• Minimum 2 hours of shadowing your work or reviewing past tickets/emails/docs.

Weeks 2–4 — Supervised Execution

• Daily standups continue but shorter (10 min). Shift toward async Slack updates.
• VA starts taking live tasks but everything is reviewed before publishing or sending.
• Weekly 45-minute 1:1 on Fridays: review the week, discuss ambiguities, give feedback.
• Start the SOP-contribution habit: for any recurring task, the VA documents the process in your SOP folder.

30-Day Milestone

By the end of month 1, the VA should be able to independently execute the 3–5 most common recurring tasks in their role, with quality verified through spot-checks. Accuracy rate ≥ 90% on core tasks.

Days 31–60: Gradual Autonomy

Goal

The VA handles their core work without pre-approval. Your involvement shifts from "review every output" to "spot-check + coach."

Week 5 — Ownership Handover

• Move daily standups to async (VA posts start-of-day plan and end-of-day summary in Slack).
• Explicitly grant decision authority in specific zones. E.g. "You can issue refunds under $50 without asking. Over $50, check with me."
• Weekly 1:1 continues but shifts toward: "What should we do differently? What processes need improvement?"

Weeks 6–8 — Process Contribution

• Assign ownership of a specific process improvement. E.g. "Our abandoned cart recovery is broken. Fix it." or "Our new-customer onboarding has gaps. Map them."
• VA creates or improves at least 3 SOPs during this period. These become your operational asset.
• Introduce the VA to other team members, partners, or customers as appropriate.

60-Day Milestone

By the end of month 2, the VA operates with minimal oversight on routine work and has contributed at least one concrete process improvement. You're saving 10+ hours per week that previously required your attention.

Days 61–90: Strategic Partnership

Goal

The VA becomes proactive. They surface issues before you notice, suggest improvements, and own meaningful business outcomes.

Week 9 — Proactive Work

• Shift weekly 1:1s to strategy conversations. "What should we focus on next month? What's not working?"
• The VA should be bringing at least 1–2 things to your attention each week that you didn't already know.

Weeks 10–12 — Performance Review & Scope Expansion

• Formal 90-day performance review. Structured feedback both ways. Honest conversation about what's working and what isn't.
• Scope expansion — if the VA is performing, add a new responsibility. This is how you build a VA into a senior contributor over 2–3 years.
• Discuss rate adjustment. A great 90-day performer deserves a 5–10% rate bump — much cheaper than replacing them.

90-Day Milestone

By the end of month 3, the VA is an autonomous operator on their core responsibilities, has contributed meaningful process improvements, and has a clear path to increased scope and rate over time.

Red Flags During Onboarding

If any of these appear, act fast:

• By day 14: Still needs hand-holding on basic access or tools, missed daily standups, or has not contributed a single SOP update → signals low engagement or wrong hire.
• By day 30: Accuracy on core tasks is below 85%, or the VA consistently misinterprets simple written instructions → either the role is a mismatch or the SOPs are inadequate. Diagnose which.
• By day 45: VA still requires pre-approval on routine tasks they were supposed to own. Either over-management on your side or low confidence on theirs. Address directly.
• By day 60: VA has never proactively surfaced an issue → they're a task executor, not a partner. Fine for some roles, misfit for others.

Common Employer Mistakes

• Not writing SOPs. If "how we do things" lives only in your head, onboarding will take twice as long and success is random.
• Giving too much too fast. Day 1 with admin access to everything is a recipe for mistakes. Scope permissions up gradually.
• Skipping the daily standup in week one. Tempting when you're busy; disastrous for the hire.
• Waiting to give feedback. Small corrections in week one prevent big issues in month two.
• Not setting explicit decision zones. "Use your judgment" does not translate. Be specific about what they can decide alone.
• No first 30-day rate discussion. Market rates change fast; a rate agreed in week one should be revisited at 90 days and annually after.

The Bottom Line

A VA who is autonomous at day 90 generates compounding returns for years. A VA who is still lost at day 90 rarely recovers. The difference is not the hire — it's the structure you apply in the first 90 days.

Use this plan as a starting framework and adapt to your business. The most important element isn't the specific tasks; it's the cadence of daily contact in weeks 1–4, gradual ownership transfer in weeks 5–8, and proactive strategic conversations in weeks 9–12.

Ready to start? Post your role on WorkFil for free and apply this plan from day one. For more context: complete hiring guide • interview questions • managing remote Filipino teams • contractor legal guide.