Category Archives: Manila

ATM Withdrawal Limits for Philippine Banks

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Many foreigners come to the Philippines and ask the same question – what Philippine ATM bank machine should I use to take out money? The question comes up often as the banks charge a fee for foreign cards being used as well as the foreigner’s local bank will charge a fee. So finding a bank with the highest withdrawal limit is important so that the fees can be minimized as best as possible.

atm withdrawal limits for philippine banks

Here are the results for Philippine bank ATM withdrawal limits: 

Bank Max. Amount
BDO ₱10,000.00
PNB ₱20,000.00
BPI ₱20,000.00*
HSBC ₱50,000.00
UnionBank ₱20,000.00
EastWest Bank Customizable
Maybank ₱20,000.00
ChinaBank ₱30,000.00

References:

BDO Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
PNB Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
BPI Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
HSBC Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
UnionBank Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
EastWest Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
Maybank Philippine ATM Limit (reference)
ChinaBank Philippine ATM Limit (reference)

Update: A commenter gave some feedback on BPI.
philippine atm limits

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If this was helpful, you might like this:

– How To Get To Fort Bonifacio (From The 4th Worst Airport In The World)

– Why Start a Business in the Philippines?

Life At PayrollHero From Our Newest Team Member Maita Ocampo

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Editors Note: Introducing Maita Ocampo, Business Development at PayrollHero. She will be contributing to the PayrollHero blog from time to time.

Wait What?

Overwhelmed, confused, and highly emotional – these are not the end of day emotions that I’ve imagined my first day with PayrollHero to be like. Apparently, I found myself having dinner alone in a restaurant after my first day and my thought bubble said something like: WHAT. JUST. HAPPENED.

Looking back, I think it was just “info overload” on my end. Haha! Well, to be honest, technology is not really my area of expertise. However, one of the reasons why I took the job at PayrollHero is because I knew that I was ready and up for the challenge. Getting sent to visit the team in Singapore after a month and working directly with the co-founder is of course, a plus. Boom! The opportunities are endless.

payroll singapore payroll team

(Myself with Steve Jagger, Michael Stephenson and Adam Baechler in Singapore checking out the view of the Marina Bay Sands.)

First Three Months

My first three months were more of getting accustomed to the tools, getting to know the product, and catching up with the company and our timelines. Now that three months have passed, I couldn’t be thankful enough for PayrollHero and its founders for giving me the opportunity to be part of a platform that aims to make the lives of employees and their respective companies better. This is something that really excites me!

Non-Stop Learning

Let me share with you 3 key learnings from my first three months with PayrollHero:

  1. Ask, ask, ask – Never assume anything. If you’re not certain about something, it is better to ask. Asking questions will not make you look lame, ignorant, or unsure. In fact, asking questions is a sign of strength and intelligence. It can also give way to deeper insights and better answers.
  2. Waking up early rocks – I wake up at 6AM every day and work usually ends at 4PM. Crazy, right? These past few months, I’ve learned that you actually get to do more work when you wake up early. At the same time, you get to spend quality time with people you love. According to Forbes and Harvard biologist Christoph Randler, “morning people” are more proactive and are more likely to agree with statements like “I feel in charge of making things happen.” His research also revealed that they are more likely to anticipate problems and minimize them efficiently.
  3. Productivity tools – I remember telling Steve, our co-founder, on my first day that I haven’t downloaded so many apps in one day! Haha. Yes, PayrollHero embraces technology (a lot). It helps us in our open communication mandate. We love PipelineDeals, Asana, Google Docs (Google white paper on PayrollHero), LinkedIn, Slack, Sqwiggle, Appear and Zopim to name a few. It may seem hard to take it all in, but these apps are just a matter of getting used to. Not only does it make learning everyday more fun, it’s definitely helping us work efficiently as well.

Exciting Times Ahead

I guess, no matter what your job is, your first couple of days at work could really be a nerve-racking experience so it’s important for one to focus and have the proper mindset for it.

What I enjoy the most about working for PayrollHero is​ that everyone’​s contributing and thinking of ways to achieve better results for our clients while enjoying the process. We get to learn a lot from each other too!

payroll team in philippines

(Myself with Cristian Guerrero, Kieran Peppiatt, Stephen Jagger, Adam Baechler and Mike Stephenson at the Hyatt in the City of Dreams Manila)

As we’re expanding rapidly in the Philippines and have soft launched in Singapore, I am looking forward for the next countries that we’re targeting this year to become payroll live and the adventures that come along with it. Exciting times, indeed!

Want to read more about our Adventure Engineering lifestyle?

– You might like Nico’s story about his first few days in the Whistler office after leaving the Philippines.

– Adventure Engineers scatter

– Looking to join us? Check out our hiring page or how our work from home program works.

Draft Gastropub Philippines Launches PayrollHero

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PayrollHero continues to grow. We are expanding rapidly in the Philippines, have soft launched into Singapore with our official launch only days way and are prepping for our next country.

It is exciting to announce that the FeastBev Group has joined PayrollHero. FeastBev includes the Draft Gastropubs, Black Olive Restaurant, Imperial Ice Bar, The Distillery, Beso and others.
draft pub philippinesPayrollHero’s time, attendance, scheduling, HRIS, Philippine payroll and business intelligence platform helps restaurant owners manage their multi-location businesses. Not only does our platform reduce payroll processing time, but it is engaging for the employees, streamlines communication and helps bring transparency to the workplace.

(image from www.asia-bars.com)

(image from www.asia-bars.com)

Are you interested in learning more about how PayrollHero can help your restaurant, retail, bpo, office or business? Reach out and one of our team would be pleased to speak further.

Wink Laser Studios Experience on PayrollHero

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retail payroll software philippines

Holly Chang, the owner of the Wink Laser Studios across metro Manila provided some great feedback about her experience with PayrollHero and how our Philippine payroll software has helped her run her ever expanding business.

Here is a quick Q/A with Holly about her experience: 

1. What was your biggest challenge when it came to employee management before using PayrollHero? How has this changed since you started using PayrollHero?

Dealing with shift and schedule changes was a nightmare. Even when we only had 8 employees, it was difficult to keep track. I don’t recall there ever being a time where I didn’t see the word ‘Adjustment’ on someone’s payslip. With Payroll Hero everything is just more organized, it’s easy to go back a few months and see breakdowns of deductions and adjustments, and even the exact details of schedule changes and who approved what.

2. What do you appreciate most about the platform? Do you have any favorite features?

Two things I love most about Payroll Hero: a) how it’s constantly improving by adding new features that its users need, and b) how easy it is to ask for and get help. Support is an essential when using a new platform. Everyone I’ve emailed has always been helpful and quick to respond, which is so important especially when you’re only hours away from releasing a payroll! My favorite features are the shift calendar and payments. It’s great to be able to pull up an employee’s name, see a breakdown of any payments or deductions that have been made in the past, or even schedule payments for future deductions.

3. What can you say about the onboarding experience?

Admittedly, training was tough. You basically spend two whole days staring at the platform just learning about it, not even setting up your own account. It took us another month to get used to everything, just because there are so many features and so many different ways to use the platform. So it was difficult, but necessary. I don’t think I’d be able to fully utilize or appreciate the platform without the two-day training.

—
“Everyone at Wink is having a blast with PayrollHero. We implemented the system almost 1 year ago and it has been a great success. Our employees love the selfie clock in and the accuracy of the system and speed of which we run payroll has been great in helping us streamline our business as we continue to grow.”  Holly Chang, Owner Wink Laser Studios

 

April 4th | Black Saturday | Philippines

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philippine black saturday

“Holy Saturday (Latin: Sabbatum Sanctum) i.e. the Saturday of Holy Week, also known as the Great Sabbath, Black Saturday, or Easter Eve,[1] and called “Joyous Saturday” or “the Saturday of Light” among the Copts, is the day after Good Friday. It is the day before Easter and the last day of Holy Week in which Christians prepare for Easter. It commemorates the day that Jesus Christ’s body lay in the tomb.” *wikipedia

 

Good Friday | Philippine Holiday

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Philippines Good Friday

“Good Friday, (Biyernes Santo) is a public holiday, commemorated with solemn street processions, the Way of the Cross, the commemoration of Jesus’ Seven Last Words (”Siete Palabras”) and a traditional Passion play called the Senákulo, which in some places is a week-long affair. In some communities (most famously in the province of Pampanga), the processions include devotees who self-flagellate and sometimes even have themselves nailed to crosses as expressions of penance, in fulfilment of a vow, or in thanksgiving for a prayer granted. The pabasa or marathon chanting of the Pasyon (the Filipino epic narrative of Christ’s life, Passion, Death, and Resurrection), usually concludes on this day.” *wikipedia

 

Tired of Commuting?

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philippine traffic problemsEditors Note: Introducing Kieran Peppiatt, Head of Client Success at PayrollHero. He will be contributing to the PayrollHero blog from time to time. 

So it might seem a bit peculiar to make my inaugural post to be about commuting! I actually plan to write about Client Success in the Philippines. However, if you live in the Philippines you’ll know it’s a pretty big problem. Traffic in Manila is some of the worst I have experienced. There are now over one billion cars on the planet and I am pretty sure they’re all here!

According to Time.com the average American’s commute to work is 25 ½ minutes, well the average commute in the Philippines is around 2 hours. The Philippine’s is ranked 9th worst for traffic in the world, and although that’s better than their airport rating it’s still not a ranking to be proud of.

Manila’s rush hour, like any, is a total misnomer. In fact the Philippine government estimates that Manila’s traffic costs the country around $3 billion per year. This is from wasted fuel, break downs, road works, deaths (you will go nowhere in an ambulance) and productivity.

Something to think about…

What does commuting mean for ensuring clients are successful?

Studies have shown that commuting will increase your blood sugar levels, cholesterol and likelihood of depression. The UK office of national statistics has also shown that your anxiety levels drastically increase, and another study by the University of Utah shows that your blood pressure temporarily spikes as direct result of a long commute.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg and keep in mind that all of these studies based their findings on commutes that exceed thirty minutes, which is way below the standard here in the Philippines.

Think about that for a moment. Your team arrive, there was a big pile up on the highway.  There late and already frustrated before they’ve even logged in to their computer. There’s a backlog of tickets because they’re only just in the door. Is that really going to create an environment that is conducive to excellent customer service?

Commuting means it’s not 9 to 5… it’s more like 7 till 7.

It’s really hard to build a team of truly exceptional employees in any industry. Add to the fact that even a two mile commute is a one hour mission. It starts to shrink the area of your employment pool. People just don’t want the hassle and who would? If you commute for two hours each way you are wasting 43 days of your life every year stuck in traffic. Not to mention the travel conditions for some commuters.

When it comes to Client Success attracting the right people is important. Without truly empathetic people whatever you try it’s all irrelevant. You want people who instinctively put themselves in the clients shoes, who can evaluate situations quickly, figure out a problem and act to create an environment in which your clients can thrive. These types of people are hard to come by.

So, how do you get them to commute to you? What should you do to try and attract the right talent into making the trip every day to your office? You don’t. We made a rule, you either live within walking distance of the office or you don’t come in. All you need to have is a computer and internet connection that is good enough to bring the office to you.

It’s quite early in our trials and this is definitely going to be a topic that I write about in the future. I’ll keep you guys informed on what we learn from it. That said, the staff who have opted to go down this route are genuinely happier and definitely more productive. They choose to spend more time helping out and don’t have to worry about getting up early to commute to work, or leaving late to miss the traffic home.

The plan is to meet up every second weekend so we can have face to face time, good food and a few drinks. We will also do a retroactive look back on the last two weeks. This is where we can see what we did well, not so well and most importantly learn how we can improve. Something I definitely plan to share more with you on in the future.

By the way, if you didn’t notice we’re hiring in a big way. If you love customers even more than we hate commuting get in touch.